Recording medium, playback apparatus, recording method, and playback method

ABSTRACT

A BD-ROM playback apparatus simultaneously executes reproduction of a title including an AVClip and executes an application. The BD-ROM playback apparatus includes a BD-J module ( 35 ) executing an application, a playback control engine ( 32 ) for playing the AVClip belonging to one title, and a module manager ( 34 ) for controlling branching between a plurality of titles. The title includes a data management table. The data management table indicates an application read priority level for each title. The BD-J module ( 35 ) includes a java virtual machine ( 38 ), a local memory ( 29 ), and an application manager ( 36 ) for loading the application to the local memory ( 29 ). The application manager ( 36 ) reads in the application into the local memory ( 29 ) according to the read priority level of each application and the memory size of the local memory ( 29 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention belongs to a field of playback control technologyfor simultaneously executing an application and playback of a digitizedmovie work, and in particular relates to an applied technique forapplying the playback control technique to a consumer playback apparatusand a program.

BACKGROUND ART

When having a playback apparatus execute the described simultaneousplayback, one issue is how to define the life cycle of applications onthe time axis of a digital stream. The life cycle of an application isthe period from the start of service by the application to the end ofservice by the application. If such a period is set in terms of a smallperiod such as with a chapter, service of various applications can beexecuted in turn. However, if the life cycle of an application is set insmall periods, the number of times that the application is read from therecording will increase. On the other hand, reading from an optical discmedium used for distributing movie works, such as a BD-ROM or a DVD, isusually slow. An increased number of reads at this slow speed willaffect reading of the video stream that constitutes the main featuremovie, and cause dropouts in moving picture playback. Although variousservices are realized, simultaneous execution that hinders movingpicture playback will greatly discourage the user, and be shunned bycreators of movie works.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a playback apparatusthat is capable of setting the life cycle of an application in smallunits.

The stated object is achieved by a recording medium storing thereon anindex table and a plurality of operating mode objects, wherein the indextable shows a plurality of titles in correspondence with the pluralityof operation mode objects, at least one of the operation mode objectsbeing a first operation mode object that is for use in a movie mode, andat least another one of the operation mode objects being a secondoperation mode object that is for use in a virtual machine, the firstoperation mode object includes a navigation command that shows a controlprocedure, the second operation mode object includes cache managementinformation, and the cache management information shows, of files thatcompose applications, which file is to be read to a cache beforeaudio-visual playback of the title corresponding to the second operationmode object when said title becomes a current title.

In the recording medium of the present invention, the cache managementinformation shows which file is to be read to a cache beforeaudio-visual playback of the title corresponding to the second operationmode object when said title becomes a current title. Therefore, when thetitle corresponding to the operation mode object becomes a currenttitle, the application can be read from the cache to the virtual machineat any time. Since the application can be read to the virtual machineany time, the number of times the application is read from the recordingmedium is reduced, even if the life cycle of the application is definedin terms a small unit such as a chapter. Furthermore, reading from theoptical disc to the cache is performed when branching between titles, inother words, where it is unnecessary to ensure seamless playback.Therefore, preparation for execution of an application can be madeeasily any time, without making the user aware of interruptions due tothe application being read.

Here, in attempting to standardize playback apparatuses that have acache, it is difficult to determine the extent of the memory scale.Considering such standardization, it is common to determine a minimumstandard memory scale, and make provision of this mandatory in allplayback devices. However, if the memory scale which is the executionenvironment is limited, there will be heavy restrictions on theoperation environment of the applications, and the result will be thatthe creative will of those in charge of authoring will be stifled.

In order to ensure operations while not stifling the creative will ofthose in charge of authoring, it is desirable to structure the playbackapparatus such that the application manager reads an application orapplications having a read priority level set to “mandatory” to thecache, and then reads an application or applications having a readpriority level set to “optional” to the cache depending on thesubsequent free capacity of the cache.

Either applications corresponding to the minimum standard memory scaleor applications corresponding to the operation environment of a largermemory scale can be loaded to the memory of the playback apparatus,depending on the memory scale of the playback apparatus and the readpriority level of each application. Loading in this way ensuresoperations with the minimum standard, and also provides the soil forrealizing the creative will of the author.

Here, the plurality of applications may be assigned mutually differentread priority levels and identical identifiers, and the applicationmanager may read, from among the applications having the identicalidentifiers, one of the applications exclusively to the cache, based ona scale of the cache and the read priority levels of the applications.

Of the plurality of applications, only one is loaded to the cache, inaccordance with the memory scale. Therefore, applications can beoperated with higher quality in accordance with the grade of theplayback apparatus, and titles can be created with greater freedom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a usage act of a recording medium pertaining to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 shows a file/directory structure of a BD-ROM;

FIG. 3 shows the relationship between an AVClip time axis and a PL timeaxis;

FIG. 4 shows a batch specification achieved by fourClip_information_file_names;

FIG. 5 shows definition of chapters by PLmarks;

FIG. 6 shows synchronization specification and definition of a playbackperiod on the SubPlayItem time axis;

FIG. 7A shows the internal structure of the Movie Object;

FIG. 7B shows the internal structure of a BD-J object;

FIG. 7C shows the internal structure of a Java application;

FIG. 8A shows programs and data stored in Java archive files;

FIG. 8B shows an example of an xlet program;

FIG. 9A shows a series of Titles: a top menu, Title#1 and Title#2;

FIG. 9B shows a time axis that is the time axes of Title#1 and Title#2added together;

FIG. 10 shows a disc content that includes three Titles: a main Title;an online shopping Title; and a game Title;

FIG. 11 shows an example of playback images of the three Titles shown inFIG. 10;

FIG. 12A shows the life cycle of each application, which is drawn basedon the belonging relationships shown by the broken-line frames of FIG.10;

FIG. 12B shows an example of application management tables written forspecifying the life cycles of FIG. 12A;

FIG. 13A shows an example of setting of run attributes;

FIG. 13B shows an application (application#2) that is not run until acall is received for the application from another application;

FIGS. 14A and 14B show an example of application management tables andlife cycles when “Suspend” is effective;

FIG. 15 shows combinations of the three run attributes (Persistent,AutoRun, and Suspend) and three possible statuses of the previous Title(Not Run, Running, and Suspend);

FIG. 16 shows the internal structure of the playback apparatus of thepresent invention;

FIG. 17A shows how Java archive files stored on the BD-ROM areidentified in a local memory 29;

FIG. 17B shows application of FIG. 17A;

FIG. 18 shows, in the layer structure, the hardware and the softwarestored in a ROM 24;

FIG. 19 is an illustration of the processes performed by a presentationengine 31 to a module manager 34;

FIG. 20 illustrates processing by an application manager 36;

FIG. 21 shows a work memory 37 to a default operation manager 40;

FIG. 22 shows control procedures of the application manager 36 forbranching;

FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing procedures of processing for terminatingapplications;

FIG. 24 indicates the process for terminating applications;

FIG. 25A shows an application management table that defines life cycleson the PL time axis;

FIG. 25B shows life cycles of applications based on the applicationmanagement tables of FIG. 25A;

FIG. 26A shows a Title time axis set based on a PL time axis;

FIG. 26B shows the Title time axis set based on the life cycle of a mainapplication;

FIG. 26C shows a Title time axis set based on the life cycle of aplurality of applications;

FIG. 27 is a flowchart showing the procedure for processing by theapplication manager 36 in Title playback;

FIG. 28A shows a menu hierarchy realized on a BD-ROM;

FIG. 28B shows a MOVIE object for running the menus having thehierarchy;

FIG. 29 illustrates an Index Table, and branching from the Index Tableto Movie objects;

FIG. 30A shows branching when the IndexTable is written as shown in FIG.29B;

FIG. 30B shows branching when a non-AV title is forcedly terminated;

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the procedure for processing by themodule manager 34;

FIG. 32 shows an operation example when the application manager 36forcedly terminates an application;

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing a PL playback procedure by the playbackcontrol engine 32;

FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing an angle switch procedure and a SkipBackand SkipNext procedure;

FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing processing when a SkipBack or SkipNextAPI is called;

FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing details of processing by the presentationengine 31;

FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing a SubPlayItem playback procedure;

FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing processing by the application manager 36in the fifth embodiment;

FIG. 39 shows an example of a data management table;

FIG. 40 shows an execution model that assumes a BD-J object;

FIG. 41A shows life cycles of showing life of Java archive files in thelocal memory 29;

FIG. 41B shows data management tables written for specifying the Javaarchive file life cycles of FIG. 41A;

FIG. 42 shows Java archive files embedded according to the carouselmethod;

FIG. 43A shows an AVClip embedded according to interleaving;

FIG. 43B shows three types of read attributes;

FIG. 44A shows an example of a data management table;

FIG. 44B shows changes in the storage content of the local memory 29according to allocation by the data management table;

FIG. 45A shows a comparison of memory scales of the local memory 29 inboth a new playback apparatus and an old playback apparatus;

FIG. 45B shows an example of a data management table in which readpriority levels are set;

FIG. 46 shows processing for preload control by the application manager36;

FIG. 47A shows an example of a data management table of a datamanagement table that specifies a plurality of applications that haveidentical applicationIDs but mutually different read priority levels;

FIG. 47B changes in the storage content of the local memory 29 accordingto allocation by the data management table of FIG. 47A;

FIG. 48A shows an example of a data management table written such thatthe same applicationID is given to applications that are to be preloadedand applications that are to be loaded;

FIG. 48B shows changes in the storage content of the local memory 29 ina playback apparatus having a small memory scale;

FIG. 48C shows changes in the storage content of the local memory 29 ina playback apparatus having a large memory scale;

FIG. 49 shows the procedure for load processing by the applicationmanager 36 based on a data management table;

FIG. 50 shows the processing procedure of the application manager 36when a current playback position reaches the life cycle of anapplication q;

FIG. 51 illustrates how the Java virtual machine 38 reads applications;

FIG. 52A shows the internal structure of a BD-J object relating to aseventh embodiment;

FIG. 52B shows an example of a PlayList management table;

FIG. 52C shows how the playback apparatus processes in a case of a PLexisting whose playback attribute is set to “AutoPlay” in the PlayListmanagement table of a branch destination Title;

FIG. 53A shows the Title time axis of a non-AV Title in a case of theplayback attribute being set to show non-automatic playback;

FIG. 53B shows a Title time axis of a non-AV Title for which theplayback attribute is set to AutoPlay;

FIG. 53C shows a case of the playback attribute being set to show“AutoPlay” in the PlayList management table, and the applicationterminating abnormally;

FIG. 53D shows a case of the playback attribute being set to show“AutoPlay” in the PlayList management table, and the main applicationfailing to run;

FIG. 54 is a flowchart showing processing by the application manager 36relating to the seventh embodiment;

FIG. 55 illustrates how playback is performed with the playbackattribute being set to “AutoPlay” in the PlayList management table;

FIGS. 56A and 56B show the relationship between run attributes and thetreatment of applications;

FIG. 57 illustrates how the Java virtual machine 38 of the eighthembodiment reads applications;

FIGS. 58A and 58B show an example of the read priority levels of theninth embodiment;

FIG. 59A shows a data management table in which group attributes areassigned;

FIG. 59B shows access to the local memory 29 based on an applicationmanagement table; and

FIG. 60 shows variations of the units of allocation of applicationmanagement tables.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION First Embodiment

The following describes an embodiment of a playback apparatus of thepresent invention. Firstly, of the implementation acts of the playbackapparatus of the present invention, a usage act is described. FIG. 1shows a usage act of a playback apparatus of the present invention. InFIG. 1, the playback apparatus of the present invention is a playbackapparatus 200 which together with a television 300 and a remotecontroller 400 forms a home theater system.

A BD-ROM 100 is used to supply movie works in the home theater systemformed from the playback apparatus 200, the remote controller 300, andthe television 400.

This completes the description of the usage act of the playbackapparatus of the present invention.

The following describes the BD-ROM that is a recording medium played bythe playback apparatus of the present invention. Disc content suppliedto the home theater by the BD-ROM is composed of a plurality of Titlesthat branch between each other. Each Title is made up of at least onePlayList and a dynamic control procedure that uses the at least onePlayList.

A PlayList is composed of at least one digital stream and a playbackpath of each digital stream, and is the unit of access on a BD-ROM thathas a concept of a “time axis”. Since it incorporates a PlayList and adynamic control procedure, a Title has both the concept of a time axisthat is characteristic of digital stream, and the properties of acomputer program.

FIG. 2 shows a file/directory structure of a BD-ROM. The BD-ROM in FIG.2 has a BDMV directory below a Root directory.

The BDMV directory has files with the extension “bdmv” (index.bdmv,Movie Object.bdmv), and files with the extension “BD-J” (00001.BD-J,00002.BD-J, 00003.BD-J). Under the BDMV directory, there are foursub-directories: PLAYLIST, CLIPINF, STREAM, and BDAR directories.

The PLAYLIST directory has files with the extension “mpls” (00001.mpls,00002.mpls, 00003.mpls).

The CLIPINF directory has files with the extension “clpi” (00001.clpi,00002.clpi, 00003.clpi).

The STREAM directory has files with the extension “m2ts” (00001.m2ts,00002.m2ts, 00003.m2ts).

The BDAR directory has files with the extension “jar” (00001.jar,00002.jar, 00003.jar). As this description shows, the directorystructure enables different types of files to be recorded on a BD-ROM.

In FIG. 2, the files with the extension “.m2ts” (00001.m2ts, 00002.m2ts,00003.m2ts . . . ) contain AVClips that are classified into types suchas MainClip and SubClip. A MainClip is a digital stream that is obtainedby multiplexing a plurality of elementary streams such as a videostream, an audio stream, a presentation graphics stream and aninteractive graphics stream.

A SubClip is a digital stream that corresponds to one elementary streamsuch as an audio stream, a graphics stream, or a text subtitle stream.

The files with the extension “clpi” (00001.clpi, 00002.clpi, 00003.clpi. . . ) are management information that correspond one-to-one with theAVClips. Since it is management information, Clip information hasinformation such as the encoding format, frame rate and bit rate of thestream in the AVClip, and an EP_map that shows cue locations.

Files with the extension “mpls” (00001.mpls, 00002.mpls, 00003.mpls . .. ) contain PlayList information. PlayList information is informationthat defines a PlayList with reference to an AVClip. A PlayList iscomposed of MainPath information, PLMark information and SubPathinformation.

The MainPath information contains a plurality of pieces of PlayIteminformation. The PlayItem is a playback period that is defined byspecifying In-Time and Out-Time on one or more AVClip axes. Anarrangement of a plurality of pieces of PlayItem information defines aPlayList (PL) that is composed of a plurality of playback periods. FIG.3 shows the relationship between an AVClip and a PL. The first rowindicates the time axis of the AVClip, and the second row indicates thetime axis of the PL. The PL information includes three pieces ofPlayItem information: “PlayItem #1”, “PlayItem #2”, and “PlayItem #3”.The In_times and Out_times of PlayItem #1, #2, and #3 define threeplayback periods. By arranging the three playback periods, a time axisthat is different from the AVClip time axis is defined. That is the PLtime axis shown in the second row. As is apparent from this, it ispossible, by defining the PlayItem information, to define a time axisthat is different from an AVClip time axis.

In principle, only one AVClip is specified. However, a plurality ofAVClips may be specified by a batch specification. The batchspecification is achieved by a plurality of Clip_Information_file_namesin the PlayItem information. FIG. 4 shows a batch specification achievedby four Clip_Information_file_names. In FIG. 4, the first to fourth rowsindicate four AVClip time axes (time axes of AVClip #1, #2, #3, and #4),and the fifth row indicates a PL time axis. The four time axes arespecified by the four Clip_Information_file_names contained in thePlayItem information. With such a construction, four playback periods,which can be selectively played, are defined by the In_times andOut_times contained in the PlayItems. This enables the PL time axis todefine a period (what is called a multi-angle period) in which aplurality of switchable angle images are provided.

The PLMark information is information that specifies, as a chapter, agiven period on the PL time axis. FIG. 5 shows definition of chapters byPLmarks. In FIG. 5, the first row indicates the AVClip time axis and thesecond row indicates the PL time axis. In FIG. 5, arrows “pk1” and “pk2”each indicate a specification of a PlayItem (ref_to_PlayItem_Id) and aspecification of a point in time (mark_time_stamp) in a PLMark. Withthese specifications, three chapters (Chapter #1, #2, #3) are defined onthe PL time axis.

The SubPath information is information composed of a plurality of piecesof SubPlayItem information. The SubPlayItem information defines aplayback period by specifying and an In_Time and an Out_Time on the timeaxis of the SubClip. The SubPlayItem information is used for asynchronization specification to synchronize a playback period on theSubClip time axis with the PL time axis. With the synchronizationspecification, the SubClip time axis and the PL time axis proceed insynchronization. FIG. 6 shows how the synchronization specification anddefinition of a playback period on the SubPlayItem time axis are done.In FIG. 6, the first row indicates the PL time axis, and the second rowindicates the SubPlayItem time axis. In FIG. 6, SubPlayItem.IN_time andSubPlayItem.Out_time indicate the start point and end point,respectively, of the playback period. It is seen from this that theplayback period is defined also on the SubClip time axis. TheSync_PlayItem_Id corresponding to the arrow Sn1 indicates thesynchronization specification for a PlayItem, andSync_start_Pts_of_PlayItem corresponding to the arrow sn2 indicatesspecification of a point in time in the PlayItem on the PL time axis.

The PlayList information in BD-ROM is characterized by its ability todefine a multi-angle period and a synchronization period, whereswitching among a plurality of AVClips is possible in the multi-angleperiod, and having an AVClip synchronized with a SubClip is possible inthe synchronization period. The above-described Clip information andPlayList Information are categorized as “static scenario”. This isbecause the Clip information and PlayList Information define a PL thatis a static playback unit. This completes the description of the staticscenario.

The following describes the “dynamic scenario”. The dynamic scenario isscenario data that dynamically defines the playback control of anAVClip. Here, “dynamically” means that the playback control can changein accordance with a status change of the playback apparatus or a keyevent from the user. BD-ROM presumes two modes as the operationenvironment for the playback control. The first mode is an operationenvironment similar to the operation environment of the DVD playbackapparatus, and is a command-based execution environment. The second modeis an operation environment of the Java Virtual Machine. Of these twooperation environments, the first one is called HDMV mode, and thesecond one is called BD-J mode. Due to the presence of the two operationenvironments, the dynamic scenario is written by presuming either of thetwo operation environments. A dynamic scenario presuming the HDMV modeis called Movie Object, and is defined by the management information. Onthe other hand, a dynamic scenario presuming the BD-J mode is called aBD-J Object.

First, the Movie Object will be described.

<Movie Object>

The Movie Object is a component of a “Title”, and is stored in a file“MovieObject.bdmv”. FIG. 7A shows the internal structure of the MovieObject. The Movie Object is composed of attribute information and acommand sequence that consists of a plurality of navigation commands.

The attribute information is composed of information that indicates,when MenuCall has been performed, whether or not playback should beresumed after, on the PL time axis, MenuCall is performed(resume_intention_flag), information indicating whether or not theMenuCall should be masked on the PL time axis (menu_call_mask), andinformation indicating whether or not Title search should be masked(title_search_flag). Since a Movie Object has the properties of both atime axis and program-like control, numerous types of Titles, such asplayback of a main feature, are written in a Movie Object.

The navigation command sequence is a command sequence for realizingconditional branching, setting of the status register in the playbackapparatus, obtaining a value set in the status register, and so on. Thefollowing are the commands that can be written in Movie Objects.

PlayPL Command

Format: PlayPL (1st argument, 2nd argument)

As the 1st argument, a PlayList number can be used to indicate a PL tobe played back. As the 2nd argument, a PlayItem contained in the PL, agiven time in the PL, a Chapter, or a Mark can be used to indicate aplayback start position.

A PlayPL function that specifies a playback start position on the PLtime axis using a PlayItem is called PlayPLatPlayItem( ).

A PlayPL function that specifies a playback start position on the PLtime axis using a Chapter is called PlayPLatChapter( ).

A PlayPL function that specifies a playback start position on the PLtime axis using time information is called PlayPLatSpecifiedTime( ).

JMP Command

Format: JMP argument

The JMP command is used for a branch that discards a currently executeddynamic scenario and executes a branch destination dynamic scenario thatis specified by the argument. There are two types of JMP command: adirect reference type that directly specifies the branch destinationdynamic scenario; and an indirect reference type that indirectly refersto the branch destination dynamic scenario.

The description format of the navigation command in the Movie Objectresembles that in DVD. For this reason, disc content can be transplantedefficiently from a DVD onto a BD-ROM. The Movie Object is a prior artdisclosed in the following International Publication. For details, referto the International Publication.

International Publication WO 2004/074976

This completes the description of the Movie Object. The followingdescribes the BD-J object.

<BD-J Object>

The files with the extension BD-J (00001.BD-J, 00002.BD-J, 00003.BD-J)each compose a BD-J object. A BD-J object is a dynamic object in BD-Jmode, which is written in a Java programming environment. FIG. 7B showsthe internal structure of a BD-J object. As shown in FIG. 7B, the BD-Jobject consists of attribute information identical to that of the MovieObject, and an application management table. The BD-J object isapproximately the same as the Movie Object in that it includes theattribute information. The difference from the Movie Object is that acommand is not written directly in the BD-J Object. That is to say, inthe Movie Object, the control procedure is written directly in thenavigation commands. In contrast, the BD-J Object indirectly defines thecontrol procedure by allowing a specification for a Java applicationthat uses the Title as a life cycle to be set in an applicationmanagement table. Such an indirect definition provides an efficientsharing of a common control procedure, allowing a plurality of Titles toshare the common control procedure.

FIG. 7C shows the internal structure of a Java application. Theapplication shown in FIG. 7C includes one or more xlet programs that areloaded in the heap area (also called work memory) of the virtualmachine. The application is composed of the xlet programs loaded in thework memory, and threads. This completes the description of thestructure of the application.

The substantial body of the Java application is Java archive files(00001.jar, 00002.jar) that are stored in the BDAR directory under theBDMV directory. The following describes the Java archive files.

The Java archive files (00001.jar, 00002.jar) each contain a programthat composes a Java application, and data. FIG. 8A shows the programsand data stored in the archive files. The data shown in FIG. 8A has beenconfigured by the Java archive by arranging a plurality of files intothe directory structure indicated by the oval frames. The directorystructure indicated by the oval frames is composed of the Root, java,and image directories. The common.pkg is arranged to be under the Rootdirectory, the class files (aaa.class, bbb.class) are arranged to beunder the java directory, and menu.jpg is arranged to be under the imagedirectory. The Java archive files are each formed by the Java archive bycombining such files into one. Such data is expanded when it is readfrom the BD-ROM, and is treated as files arranged in the directories inthe cache. The five-digit number “xxxxx” attached to each Java archivefile name indicates an ID of an application (applicationID). When such aJava archive file has been read to a cache, it is possible to extractprograms and data that constitute an arbitrary Java application byreferring to the number attached to the file name.

In the Java archive file, xlet programs are arranged into one file.

An xlet program is a Java program that can use a JMF (Java MediaFramework) interface. The xlet program is composed of a plurality offunctions such as EventListener for receiving key events, and executesprocessing in correspondence with the received key events in accordancewith a format such as JMF.

FIG. 8B shows an example of an xlet program. JMF A “BD://00001.mpls”; isa method that instructs the Java virtual machine to generate a playerinstance to play a PL. A.play is a method that instructs playback of theJMF player instance. The JMF player instance is generated based on a JMFlibrary. The xlet program is not limited to being written as a JMF for aPL of the BD-ROM, but may be written as a JMF applicable to entirecontent that has a time axis. This ability to write in this wayencourages software houses dealing with Java programming to create BD-Jobjects.

Jump Title( ); in FIG. 8B is a call for a function API. This functionAPI instructs the playback apparatus to branch to another Title (Title#1in FIG. 8B). This function API (ApplicationInterface) is supplied by theBD-ROM playback apparatus. In addition to the JumpTitle command, thexlet program can instruct the BD-ROM playback apparatus to executeprocesses that are unique to the BD-ROM playback apparatus by writingcalls for function APIs.

PL playback in BD-J mode is stipulated by the JMF interface. Since theJMF player instance determines the PL time axis, the Title time axis isdetermined based on the Title that includes this JMF player instance.Furthermore, branches from Title to Title in BD-J mode are stipulated bya call of a JumpTitleAPI. The JumpTitleAPI call determines the end pointof the Title. Therefore, an application that includes such a JMF playerinstance and JumpTitleAPI call governs starting and ending of Titles inBD-J mode.

The above is a description of dynamic scenarios in BD-J mode. A Titlethat incorporates both PL playback and program-like control is definedby a dynamic scenario in this BD-J mode. It should be noted here thatalthough in the present embodiment programs and data that constitute theapplication are stored in Java archive files, such programs and data maybe stored in LZH files or zip files.

<Title Time Axis>

Having completed the description of the static scenarios and dynamicscenarios that compose the Titles, the following describes what kind oftime axis these define. The time axis defined by a Title is called a“Title time axis”. The Title time axis is composed of PLs, playback ofthe PLs being instructed by Movie objects or BD-J objects. Titles suchas that of FIG. 9A are given here as one example. These Titles are aseries of Titles: top menu, Title#1, Title#2, top menu, top menu,Title#3, top menu. Of these Titles, if Title#1 instructs playback ofPlayList#1 and PlayList#2, Title#2 instructs playback of PlayList#3, andTitle#3 instructs playback of PlayList#4, Title#1 has a time axis thatcorresponds the total of time axes of PlayList#1 and PlayList#2, asshown in FIG. 9B. Similarly, Title#2 has a time axis that corresponds tothe time axis of PlayList#3, and Title#3 has a time axis thatcorresponds to the time axis of PlayList#4. Although seamless playbackis guaranteed on each PL time axis in these Title time axes, it is notnecessary to guarantee seamless playback in the Title time axes. Tooperate Java applications, it is necessary to define a period for whichJava applications may exist in the work memory of the virtual machine(service period) on the Title time axis. To operate Java applications inBD-J mode, it is necessary to define a service period of Javaapplications on a time axis on which the applications mutually branch.Defining of these service periods must be kept in mind when programmingfor BD-ROMs.

Finally, a description is given of IndexTable contained in index.bdmv.The IndexTable is a table in which Title numbers, Movie Objects and BD-Jobjects are in correspondence, and is an indirect reference tablereferred to when branching from dynamic scenario to dynamic scenario.The IndexTable is composed of a plurality of Index that correspondrespectively to a plurality of labels. Written in each Index is anidentifier of a dynamic scenario corresponding to the label. Referringto this IndexTable realizes branching without strict differentiationbetween Movie objects and BD-J objects. The IndexTable is disclosed inthe following International Publication. For details, refer to theInternational Publication.

International Publication WO 2004/025651 A1

This completes the description of the files recorded on the BD-ROM.

<Application Management Table>

As described above, applications that have JMF player instances andJumpTitleAPI calls govern the Title time axis. When other applicationsthat do not have JMF player instance and JumpTitleAPI call are run, itis important to clearly define, on the time axis, the start point atwhich service by an application starts and the end point at whichservice by the application ends. In the present embodiment, the startthrough to the end of service of a service by an application is definedas the “life” of an application. The information for defining the lifeof applications exists in application management tables in BD-J objects.The following describes the application management table in more detail.

The application management table (AMT) is information showingapplications that may exist in the work memory of the virtual machine,represented with the Title time axis of each Title. Living in the workmemory refers to the xlet programs composing the application having beenloaded in the work memory such that the application can be executed bythe virtual machine. The broken line arrow at1 in FIG. 7B shows acloseup of the internal structure of the application management table.As shown in this internal structure, the application management tableconsists of “life cycle”, “application ID” which shows an applicationthat has a life cycle bound to the Title, and “run attribute” of theapplication.

The following describes the life cycle is written in the applicationmanagement table, using a specific example which includes a disc contentthat will be implemented in the near future, as the material. The disccontent used as the material includes three different types of Titles: amain Title (Title#1) that constitutes a main image work; an onlineshopping Title (Title#2) that constitutes online shopping; and a gameTitle (Title#3) that constitutes a game application. FIG. 10 shows adisc content that includes three Titles: a main Title; an onlineshopping Title; and a game Title. The left-hand side of FIG. 10 shows anIndexTable, and the right-hand side of FIG. 10 shows three Titles.

The broken-line frames on the right-hand side of FIG. 10 show belongingrelationships that indicate Titles to which each application belongs. Ofthe three Titles, Title#1 is composed of application #1, application #2,and application #3. Also, Title#2 is composed of application #3 andapplication #4, and Title#3 is composed of application #5. FIG. 11 showsan example of playback images of the three Titles shown in FIG. 10. Inthese playback images of the three Titles, video (cart cr1) 1 thatsimulates a shopping cart exists in the main Title of FIG. 11A and theonline shopping Title of FIG. 11B, while the cart video does not existin the game Title of FIG. 11C. Since the cart cr1 must be shown in boththe main Title and the online shopping Title, application#3, which is acart program, is run with both Title#1 and Title#2. Besides thedescribed cart, other applications that run with a plurality of Titlesin this way include an agent application that simulates a mascot thatappears in the movie, and a menu application that displays menus inaccordance with menu call operations.

The belonging relationships shown by the broken-line frames of FIG. 10appear as in FIG. 12A when expressed with a graph. In FIG. 12A, thehorizontal axis indicates a Title time axis, and life cycles ofapplications are arranged in the vertical axis direction. Here,application #1 and application #2 belong only to Title#1, and thereforethe life cycles of these applications are confined to Title#1.Application #4 belongs only to Title#2, and therefore the life cycle ofapplication #4 is confined to Title#2. Application #5 belongs only toTitle#3, and therefore the life cycle of application #5 is confined toTitle#3. Application #3 belongs to Title #1 and Title #2, and thereforethe life cycle of application #3 extends across Titles #1 and #2. Thelife cycles shown in FIG. 12A appear as in FIG. 12B when written in theapplication management tables for Titles #1, #2, and #3. If theapplication management tables are written in this way, application #1,application #2, and application #3 are loaded into the work memory whenthe playback of Title#1 is started. Then, when the playback of Title#2is started, applications #1 and #2 are deleted from the work memory,causing only application #3 to remain. Similarly, it is possible toperform control so that application #4 is loaded into the work memorywhen the playback of Title#2 is started, and that applications #3 and #4are deleted from the work memory when the playback of Title#3 isstarted.

Further, it is possible to perform control so that application #5 isloaded into the work memory while Title#3 is played, and thatapplication #5 is deleted from the work memory when the playback ofTitle#3 ends.

With this construction, the number of times the applications are loadedinto the work memory is minimized. This is because if a branch betweenTitles occurs, applications that live in both the branch origin andbranch destination may be stored in the work memory, and applicationsthat do not live in the branch origin and live in only the branchdestination may be loaded into the work memory. Such a construction thatdecreases the number of times data is loaded enables an unboundaryapplication, which is such an application that does not make oneconscious about a boundary between Titles, to be achieved.

The following describes the run attributes of the applications. The runattributes include: “AutoRun” indicating that the application with thisattribute is automatically run; “Persistent” indicating that theapplication with this attribute is not the target of the automatic runbut may be stored in the work memory of the virtual machine; and“Suspend” indicating that the application with this attribute is storedin the work memory of the virtual machine but is not assigned the CPUpower.

AutoRun shows a life cycle indicating that when a corresponding Titlebranches, the application is simultaneously loaded into the work memoryand executed. When a Title branches to another Title, the managementbody (application manager) that manages the applications loads anapplication which lives in the branch destination Title and whose runattribute has been set to AutoRun, into the work memory of the virtualmachine, and executes the application. This means that the applicationis automatically run as the Title branches. Applications that set therun attribute to AutoRun include applications that have JMF playerinstance and JumpTitleAPI call. This is because it is this kind ofapplication that governs the Title time axis, and the concept of theTitle time axis will become blurred if this kind of application is notrun automatically.

The run attribute “Persistent” is a continuous attribute, and indicatesthat the status of the application in the branch origin Title ismaintained. This is also an attribute that indicates that theapplication can be loaded into the work memory. An application whose runattribute is set to “Persistent” can be called from another application.When an application is called from another application that is beingrun, the management body (application manager) judges whether or not theapplication ID of the application is written in the applicationmanagement table and whether or not the run attribute of the applicationis set to “Persistent”. If it is set to “Persistent” the management bodyloads the application into the work memory. If the application ID of thecall destination application is not written in the applicationmanagement table, the management body does not load the application intothe work memory. Only an application whose run attribute is set to“Persistent” can be called from another application.

“Persistent” is a default run attribute that is assigned when the runattribute is not clearly specified. As a result, when the run attributeof an application is “--” indicating no specification, it means that therun attribute of the application is “Persistent”.

The following describes how the run attributes are written in theapplications of FIG. 11. FIGS. 13A and 13B are an example of settings ofrun attributes for the three applications of FIG. 12. Of the threeapplications shown in FIG. 12, application#2 does not run unless thereis an application call from another application as shown in FIG. 13B.The remaining application#1 and #3 run automatically simultaneously withTitle#1. In this case, the run attributes of the applications are set inthe application management table such that application#1 andapplication#3 have the run attribute “AutoRun”, and application#2 hasthe run attribute “Persistent”. With these settings, application#1 andapplication#3 are automatically loaded into the work memory and executedwhen Title#1 is branched to. On the other hand, since it has the runattribute “Persistent”, application#2 is interpreted as having anegative meaning that application#3 is an application that may be loadedinto the work memory of the virtual machine. Hence, application#2 is notloaded into the work memory of the virtual machine and executed unlessthere is a call from applicaton#1. With the described life cycles andrun attributes, the number of applications that may run on the virtualmachine is limited to no more than four, and the total number of threadsis limited to no more than 64. This ensures that the applications runstably.

The following describes “Suspend”.

“Suspend” indicates that the application with this attribute is assigneda resource but is not assigned CPU power. The attribute “Suspend” iseffective, for example, in achieving the process of passing a side pathwhile a game Title is executed. FIGS. 14A and 14B show an example ofwhen “Suspend” is effective. As shown in FIG. 14B, there are threeTitles (Title#1, Title#2, Title#3), of which Title#1 and Title#3 executegame applications, and the intervening Title#2 is a side path, andimplements video playback. Execution of the game is suspended because itis necessary to implement video playback with the side path. Since thegame application counts the score and the like during the game, it ispreferable that the stored values of the resources are maintained beforeand after Title#2. In this case, the application management table iswritten such that the game applications are suspended at the start pointof Title#2, and application#2 resumes at the start point of Title#3.This means that resources are assigned to application#2 during Title#2,and therefore the stored values of the resources are maintained.However, since CPU power is not assigned to application#2, application#2is not executed by the virtual machine. This enables processing forexecuting the side path processing to be realized during execution ofthe game Titles.

FIG. 15 shows combinations of the three run attributes (Persistent,AutoRun, and Suspend) and three possible statuses of the previous Title(Not Run, Running, and Suspend). If the previous status is “Not Run” andthe run attribute is “AutoRun”, the application is run in the branchdestination Title.

If the previous status is “Not Run” and the run attribute is“Persistent” or “Suspend”, no operation is performed, and the status ismaintained.

If the previous status is “Running” and the run attribute is“Persistent” or “AutoRun”, no operation is performed, and the status inmaintained.

If the run attribute is set to “Suspend”, the status of the applicationis suspended. If the previous status is “Suspend” and the run attributeof the branch destination Title is “Suspend”, “Suspend” is maintained.If the previous status is “Suspend” and the run attribute of the branchdestination Title is “Persistent” or “AutoRun”, the application isresumed in the branch destination Title. Defining life cycles and runattributes in the application management table makes it possible toperform a synchronization control to run a Java application during aTitle playback period. This enables various applications to be providedthat cause images to be played and programs to be executed. Thiscompletes the description of the recording medium. The followingdescribes the playback apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 16 shows the internal structure of the playback apparatus of thepresent invention. The playback apparatus of the present invention isindustrially manufactured based on the internal structure shown in FIG.16. The playback apparatus of the present invention is mainly composedof two parts: a system LSI; and a drive apparatus. The industrialmanufacturing is achieved by mounting the parts into the cabinet and onthe board of the apparatus. The system LSI is an integrated circuit thatincludes various processing units for performing the functions of theplayback apparatus. The playback apparatus manufactured in such a mannerincludes a BD-ROM drive 1, a read buffer 2, a demultiplexer 3, a videodecoder 4, a video plane 5, a P-graphics decoder 9, a presentationgraphics plane 10, a combining unit 11, a font generator 12, anI-graphics decoder 13, a switch 14, an interactive graphics plane 15, acombining unit 16, an HDD 17, a read buffer 18, a demultiplexer 19, anaudio decoder 20, a scenario memory 21, a CPU 22, a key event processingunit 23, an instruction ROM 24, a switch 25, a CLUT unit 26, a CLUT unit27, a PST set 28, and a local memory 29.

The BD-ROM drive 1 performs loading/ejecting of a BD-ROM, and accessingof the BD-ROM.

The read buffer 2 is a FIFO memory in which TS packets read from theBD-ROM are stored in the First-In-First-Out manner.

The demultiplexer (De-mux) 3 extracts TS packets from the read buffer 2,and converts the TS packets into PES packets. The demultiplexer 3outputs PES packets, out of the PES packets obtained by the conversion,that have PIDs set by the CPU 22, to any of the video decoder 4, theaudio decoder 20, the P-graphics decoder 9, and the I-graphics decoder13.

The video decoder 4 decodes a plurality of PES packets, which are outputfrom the demultiplexer 3, into pictures of anon-compression format, andwrites the pictures onto the video plane 5.

The video plane 5 is a plane for storing non-compression formatpictures. The plane is a memory area in the playback apparatus forstoring pixel data of one screen. If a plurality of planes are providedin the playback apparatus, and the pixels of the data stored in eachplane are added to the pixels of the data stored in other planes beforevideo is output, video that is a combination of a plurality of videodata can be output. The resolution of the video plane 5 is 1920×1080.The picture data stored in the video plane 5 is composed of pixel datathat is represented in 16-bit YUV values.

The P-graphics decoder 6 decodes a presentation graphics stream readfrom the BD-ROM or the HDD 17 into non-compression graphics, and writesthe non-compression graphics onto the presentation graphics plane 10.The decoding of the graphics stream results in a subtitle appearing onthe screen.

The presentation graphics plane 10 is a memory area having the size ofone screen, and is able to store non-compression graphics of one screen.The resolution of the presentation graphics plane 10 is 1920×1080. Eachpixel of the non-compression graphics stored in the presentationgraphics plane 10 is represented by an 8-bit index color. Thenon-compression graphics stored in the presentation graphics plane 10are displayed after the index color is converted using a CLUT (ColorLookup Table).

The combining unit 11 combines the non-compression picture data (i) withthe data stored in the presentation graphics plane 10.

The font generator 12 expands the text code, which is contained in thetext ST stream, into bit maps using character fonts.

The I-graphics decoder 13 decodes an interactive graphics stream, whichis read from the BD-ROM or the HDD 17, into non-compression graphics,and writes the non-compression graphics onto the interactive graphicsplane 15.

The switch 14 selectively writes, onto the presentation graphics plane10, either the font sequence generated by the font generator 12 or thegraphics obtained as a result of the decoding by the P-graphics decoder9.

The interactive graphics plane 15 stores the non-compression graphicsthat are obtained as a result of the decoding by the I-graphics decoder13.

The combining unit 16 combines the data stored in the interactivegraphics plane 10 with a composite image (a combination of thenon-compression picture data and the data stored in the presentationgraphics plane 7) output form the combining unit 8.

The HDD 17 is an internal medium that stores therein SubClips, Clipinformation, and PlayList information downloaded via a network or thelike. This PlayList information in the HDD 17 differs in that it canspecify Clip information whether the Clip information exists on theBD-ROM or in the HDD 17. For this specification, the PlayListinformation in the HDD 17 need not specify a file on the BD-ROM by afull path. This is because the playback apparatus recognizes the HDD 17together with the BD-ROM as one virtual driver (called a virtualpackage). Therefore, with a five-digit value, which is a file body of afile storing Clip information, specified therein, theClip_Information_file_name is the PlayItem information and theClip_Information_file_name in the SubPlayItem information are used tospecify an AVClip on the HDD 17 or the BD-ROM. Reading data stored inthe HDD, and combining this dynamically with the data stored in theBD-ROM can produce various playback patterns.

The read buffer 18 is a FIFO memory, and stores TS packets read from theHDD 17 in a First-In-First-Out manner.

The demultiplexer (De-MUX) 19 extracts TS packets from the read buffer18, and converts the TS packets into PES packets. The demultiplexer 19outputs, out of the PES packets obtained by the conversion, PES packetsthat have desired streamPIDs, to the font generator 12.

The audio decoder 20 decodes PES packets output from the demultiplexer19, and outputs the audio data in the non-compression format.

The scenario memory 21 stores the current PL information and the currentClip information. The current PL information is a piece of PLinformation that is a current target of processing, among a plurality ofpieces of PL information recorded on the BD-ROM. The current Clipinformation is a piece of a Clip information that is a current target ofprocessing, among a plurality of pieces of Clip information recorded onthe BD-ROM.

The CPU 22 executes the software stored in the instruction ROM 24 andcontrols the entire playback apparatus.

The key event processing 23 outputs key events for performing operationsin response to key operations with respect to the remote controller orthe front panel of the playback apparatus.

The instruction ROM 24 stores software that defines the control by theplayback apparatus.

The switch 25 is used to selectively enter data, which has been readfrom the BD-ROM or the HDD 17, into any of the read buffer 2, the readbuffer 18, the scenario memory 21, and the local memory 29.

The CLUT unit 26 converts the index color of the non-compressiongraphics stored in the video plane 5, into the Y, Cr, and Cb values.

The CLUT unit 27 converts the index color of the non-compressiongraphics stored in the interactive graphics plane 15, into the Y, CR,and Cb values.

The PSR set 28 is a register embedded in the playback apparatus, and iscomposed of 64 Player Status Registers (PSR) and 4,096 General PurposeRegisters (GPR). Among the values set in the Player Status Registers(the set values are referred to as PSRs), PSR4 to PSR8 are used torepresent a current playback position.

The PSR 4 is set to a value ranging from 1 to 100 to indicate a Title towhich the current playback position belongs, and is set to a value 0 toindicate that the current playback position belongs to the top menu.

PSR5 is set to a value ranging from 1 to 999 to indicate a Chapternumber of a Chapter to which the current playback position belongs, andis set to a value 0xFFFF to indicate that Chapter numbers are invalid inthe playback apparatus.

PSR6 is set to a value ranging from 0 to 999 to indicate a PL number ofa PL (current PL) to which the current playback position belongs.

PSR7 is set to a value ranging from 0 to 255 to indicate a PlayItemnumber of a PlayItem (current PlayItem) to which the current playbackposition belongs.

PSR8 is set to a value ranging from 0 to 0xFFFFFFFF to indicate thecurrent playback position (current PTM (Presentation TiMe)) using thetemporal accuracy of 45 KHz. With the above-described PSR4 to PSR8, itis possible to identify the current playback position.

The local memory 29 is a cache memory for temporarily storing the datarecorded on the BD-ROM so as to cover the slowness in reading data fromthe BD-ROM. Due to the presence of the local memory 29, applications areexecuted efficiently in BD-J mode. FIG. 17A shows how Java archive filesstored on the BD-ROM are identified in the local memory 29. In the tablein FIG. 17A, the left-hand column shows the file names on the BD-ROM,and the right-hand column shows the file names in the local memory 29. Acomparison of the left-hand column and the right-hand column shows thatthe files in the local memory 29 are specified with a file path fromwhich the directory specification “BDJA” has been omitted.

FIG. 17B shows application of FIG. 17A. In this application example,data stored in the file consists of a header and data. The file path inthe local memory 29 is used as the header. As shown in FIG. 17B, usingthe partially-abbreviated file path on the BD-ROM as the file pathenables the file path to be stored in the header, and therefore thelocation of the data on the BD-ROM is obvious.

This completes the hardware structure of the playback apparatus of thepresent embodiment. The following describes the software structure ofthe playback apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 18 shows, in the layer structure, the hardware and the softwarestored in the ROM 24. As shown in FIG. 18, the layer structure of theplayback apparatus is composed of the following a), b), c), d-1), d-2),e), and f).

a) The logical hardware layer; and, thereon,

two layers that are:

b) a presentation engine 31 that controls playback by AVClips;

c) a playback control engine 32 that performs playback control based onPlayList information and Clip information.

On the top layer is:

e) a module manager 34 that executes branching between Titles.

On a same layer between a HDMV module 33 and a module manager 34 are:

d-1) the HDMV module 33 that decodes and executes movie objects; and

d-2) a BD-J module 35 that decodes and executes BD-J objects.

The BD-J module 35 is what is called a Java platform, having aconstruction centering on a Java virtual machine 38 that includes a workmemory 37, and is composed of an application manager 36, an eventlistener manager 39, and a default operation manager 40. First, thepresentation engine 31 to the module manager 34 are described. FIG. 19is an illustration of the processes performed by the presentation engine31 to the module manager 34.

The presentation engine 31 executes AV playback functions. The AVplayback functions in the playback apparatus are a group of traditionalfunctions succeeded from CD and DVD players. The AV playback functionsinclude: Play, Stop, Pause On, Pause Off, Still Off, Forward Play (withspecification of the speed), Backward Play (with specification of thespeed), Audio Change, Subtitle Change, and Angle Change. To realize theAV playback functions, the presentation engine 31 controls the videodecoder 4, the P-graphics decoder 6, the I-graphics decoder 13, and theaudio decoder 20 so as to decode a portion of the AVClip, which has beenread to the read buffer 2, corresponding to a desired time. Here, thedesired time may be the time specified by PSR8 (current PTM). With thisconstruction, it is possible to play a portion of an AVClip thatcorresponds to an arbitrary time. The sign ⊚1 in FIG. 19 indicates thestart of decoding by the presentation engine 31.

The playback control engine (PCE) 32 performs functions that include:(i) PlayList playback control functions; and (ii) statusobtaining/setting function for obtaining and setting statuses in theplayback apparatus. The PlayList playback control functions is, amongthe AV playback functions performed by the presentation engine 31, aplayback start, a playback stop or the like that are performed based onthe current PL information and Clip information. The functions (i) and(ii) are performed in response to the function calls that are issued bythe HDMV module 33, the module manager 34 and the BD-J module 35. Thatis to say, the playback control engine 32 executes its own functions inresponse to instructions made by user operations and instructions fromthe upper layer in the layer model. In FIG. 19, the arrows with thesigns ⊚2 and ⊚3 indicate the playback control engine 32 referencing theClip information and the PlayList information.

The HDMV module 33 is a main body for execution in movie mode. Ifnotified by the module manager 34 of a Movie Object that constitutes abranch destination, the HDMV module 33 reads, from the local memory 29,the Movie Object that constitutes the branch destination, decodes thenavigation command written in the Movie Object, and issues, based on thedecoding results, a function call to the playback control engine 32. InFIG. 19, the arrows with signs ∇2, ∇3, and ∇4 respectively indicate thefollowing: receiving notification of the branch destination Movie Objectfrom the module manager 34 (∇2); decoding the navigation command writtenin the Movie Object (∇3); and issuing a function call to the playbackcontrol engine 32 (∇4).

The module manager 34 holds the IndexTable that is read from the BD-ROM,and performs a branch control. The branch control includes receiving aTitle number that is a jump destination when the HDMV module 33 hasexecuted a JumpTitle command or when the BD-J module 35 has issued aTitle jump API, and notifying the Movie Object or the BD-J Object thatcomposes the Title to the HDMV module 33 or the BD-J module 35. In FIG.19, the arrows with signs ∇0, ∇1, and ∇2 respectively indicate thefollowing: executing a JumpTitle command (∇0); the module manager 34referring to the IndexTable (∇1); and sending notification to run aMovie Object that is the branch destination (∇2).

This completes the description of the presentation engine 31 to themodule manager 34. The following describes the application manager 36with reference to FIG. 20. FIG. 20 shows the application manager 36.

The application manager 36 executes run control of an application byreferring to the application management table, and control to terminatea Title normally.

The run control includes, each time notification of a BD-J object thatis a branch destination is received from the module manager 34, readingthat BD-J object, referring to the application management table in theBD-J object, and accessing the local memory 29. Run control alsoincludes reading, to the work memory, the xlet program that constitutesthe application that has a life cycle at the current playback position.In FIG. 20, the signs ⋆1, ⋆2, and ⋆3 respectively indicate thefollowing: notification of the branch destination BD-J object in runcontrol (⋆1); referring to the application management table (⋆2); andinstructing the Java virtual machine 38 to run an application. With thisinstruction to run an application, the Java virtual machine 38 reads thexlet program from the local memory 29 onto the work memory 37 (⋆5).

Termination control of a Title includes control when the Titleterminates normally and control when the Title terminates abnormally.The control when the Title terminates normally is control for, when ajump Title API has been called by an application that constitutes aTitle, issuing a request to the main body of branch control (the modulemanager 34) to switch to the branch destination. The arrow with the sign⋆6 indicates notification to the module manager 34 in terminationcontrol. When the Title terminates normally, the application thatconstitutes the Title may remain running. This is because a judgment ofwhether or not to terminate the application is made in the destinationbranch Title. Although not touched on in detail in the presentembodiment, the application manager 36 performs processing to read aJava archive file from the BD-ROM into the local memory 29 (⋆8). Thesign ⋆8 indicates this reading into the local memory 29.

This completes the description of the application manager 36. Thefollowing describes the work memory 37 to the default manager 40 withreference to FIG. 21.

The work memory 37 is a heap area in which is located xlet programs thatconstitute applications. Although the work memory 37 is actually locatedin the Java virtual machine 38, the work memory 37 is shown on a higherlayer than the Java virtual machine 38 in the drawing for convenience.The xlet programs in the work memory 37 include EventListener and JMFplayer instance.

The Java virtual machine 38 loads the xlet program that constitutes anapplication onto the work memory 37, decodes the xlet program, andexecutes processing based on the decoding results. As described, thexlet program includes a method to instruct generation of a JMF playerinstance and a method to instruct execution of this JMF player instance,and therefore, performs control with respect to the lower layers toimplement the processing instructed by the methods. If JMF playerinstance generation is instructed, the Java virtual machine 38 obtainsthe JMF player instance associated with the YYYY.MPLS file on theBD-ROM. Further, if execution of the JMF method in the JMF playerinstance is instructed, the Java virtual machine 38 issues a JMF methodto a BD middleware so that a function call corresponding to the BDplayback apparatus replaces the existent function call, and issues thefunction call after replacement to the playback control engine 32.

The event listener manager 39 analyzes the key events and distributesthe events. The solid line arrows ⋄1 and ⋄2 in FIG. 21 indicatedistribution of events by the event listener manager 39. If the event tobe distributed is a key event that has been registered in the xletprogram, such as START, STOP, or SPEED, the event listener manager 39distributes the event to an xlet program that is being indirectlyreferred to by the BD-J Object. START, STOP, and SPEED are eventscorresponding to JMF, and these key events are registered therewith inthe Event Listener in the xlet program. Therefore, the xlet program canbe run according to these key events. If the event to be distributed isa key event that has not been registered with the Event Listener, theevent listener manager 39 distributes the event to the default operationmanager 40. Various key events, including audio switch and angle switch,that are not registered with Event Listener may occur in the BD-ROMplayback apparatus, therefore the above-described arrangement isprovided so as to process each key event without fail.

When a key event that is not registered with Event Listener in the xletprogram is distributed to the default operation manager 40 by the eventlistener manager 39, the default operation manager 40 issues to theplayback control engine 32 a function call that corresponds to the eventthat is not registered with Event Listener. The arrow ⋄3 in FIG. 21indicates the function call issued by the default operation manager 40.Although the events that are not registered with Event Listener aredistributed by the event listener manager 39 and the default operationmanager 40 in FIG. 21, the playback control engine 32 may directlyreceive the events that are not registered with the Event Listener, andperform playback control (⋄4 in FIG. 21).

(Description of Flowcharts)

The above description of the application manager 36 is only an outlinethereof. The processes of the application manager 36 are shown in detailin FIGS. 22 and 23. The following describes the processing procedures ofthe application manager 36 in more detail with reference to theflowcharts.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing control procedures of the applicationmanager 36 for branching. The processing shown in this flowchart is forrunning or terminating an application (referred to as application x)that fulfills the conditions of step S2 to step S5.

At step S2 the application manager 36 judges whether or not anapplication x exists that is not run in the branch destination Title,but lives in the branch destination Title and whose run attribute in thebranch destination Title is AutoRun, and if such an application xexists, cache sense is performed with respect to the local memory 29.If, as a result of the cache sense, the application x is in the localmemory 29 (YES at step S7), the application x is read from the localmemory 29 into the work memory 37 (step S8). If an application x is notin the local memory 29, the application manager 36 reads an applicationx from the BD-ROM to the local memory 29, and then reads the applicationx from the local memory 29 to the work memory 37 (step S9).

At step S3, the application manager 36 judges whether or not anapplication x exists that is being run in the branch origin Title doesnot live in the branch destination Title. If such an application xexists, the application x is deleted from the work memory 37 andterminated (step S10).

At step S4, the application manager 36 judges whether or not anapplication exists that is Suspend in the branch origin, and AutoRun orPersistent in the branch destination. If such an application exists, theapplication x is resumed (step S11).

At step S5, the application manager 36 judges whether or not anapplication exists that is being run in the branch origin Title and isSuspend in the branch destination. If such an application exits, theapplication x is suspended (step S12).

The processing for the application manager 36 to terminate applicationsis as shown in FIG. 23. FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing the processingprocedure for terminating applications. FIG. 23 includes loop processingin which step S16 to step S20 are repeatedly performed for each of theplurality of applications that are to be terminated (step S15). In thisloop processing, the application manager 36 issues a terminate event soas to terminate an application that is running (step S16), sets a timer(step S17), and moves to loop processing composed of step S18 to stepS20. If Event Listener receives this terminate event, the correspondingxlet program runs a termination process. When the termination processhas ended, the xlet program is discarded from the work memory 37, andterminated.

The timer continues to count down while the loop processing at step S18to step S20 continues. At step S18 in the loop processing, theapplication manager 36 judges whether or not the issue destinationapplication has terminated, and if the issue destination application hasnot terminated, processing of application is terminated. At step S19,the application manager 36 determines whether or not the timer has timedout, and if so, the issue destination application is deleted from thework memory 37 at step S20, so as to forcedly terminate the application.

The processing by the above module manager 34 is described withreference to FIG. 24.

FIG. 24 indicates the process for terminating applications. In FIG. 24,the first row shows the application manager 36, and the second row showsthree applications. In the second row in FIG. 24, the application on theleft-hand side shows an application that received a terminate event, andwas successful in the termination process. The middle application in thethree applications in the second row of FIG. 24 is an application thatreceived a terminate event, but failed in the termination process. Theapplication on the right-hand side is not provided with an EventListener, and therefore was unable to receive the terminate event.

The arrows ep1 and ep2 between the first row and the second row indicateissuing of terminate events by the application manager, and the arrowep3 indicates running a termination process.

The third row is the status after status change when the terminationprocess succeeds, and this application terminates according to its owntermination processing. As with these xlet programs, if there are anyapplications that have not terminated within a predetermined period oftime, the application manager 36 forcedly removes them from the workmemory 37. Specifying the forced termination of the fourth row can alsobe said to be one of the missions of the application manager 36.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, applicationsthat are run in the branch origin Title and do not live in the branchdestination Title are automatically terminated. Therefore, even if theprogression of playback is complicated due to conditional branching, thenumber of applications launched will not be such that the limit of theresources of the playback apparatus is exceeded. Since the running ofapplications before and after branching can be guaranteed, numerous disccontents in which applications are executed while a digital stream isplayed are able be distributed.

Second Embodiment

Whereas the life cycle of the applications matches the Title time axisin the first embodiment, the second embodiment proposes part of the PLtime axis as the life cycle of an application. Part of the PL time axisis expressed by Chapters, and therefore the life cycle of applicationscan be specified by writing a start point and an end point in terms ofChapters. FIG. 25A shows an application management table that defineslife cycles on the PL time axis. There are three applications written inthe application management table in FIG. 25A, of which application#2 hasa life cycle specified as Chapter#2 to Chapter#3 of Title#1, and has anrun attribute specified as AutoRun. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 25B,application#2 is run at the start point of Chapter#2 and terminated atthe end point of Chapter #3.

On the other hand, Chapter#4 to Chapter#6 of Title#1 is specified as thelife cycle of application#3. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 25B,application#3 is run at the start point of Chapter#4 and terminated atthe end point of Chapter#6.

Because it performs processing based on the application management tablewritten in this way, each time a chapter start point specified by aPLmark is reached, the application manager 36 of the present embodimentjudges whether or not any application exists whose life cycle starts atthe chapter start point, and if any such application exists, theapplication manager 36 loads that application into the work memory 37.

Similarly, each time a chapter start point is reached, the applicationmanager 36 judges whether or not any application exists whose life cycleends with the directly preceding chapter, and if any such applicationexists, discards that application from the work memory 37.

By managing the life of applications in units of chapters, the lifecycles of applications can be specified even more precisely. However, itmust be kept in mind that with disc content, retrograde along the timeaxis is possible. Retrograde is advancement in the opposite direction tothe time axis because of rewinding. Repeated retrograde and advancementat chapter boundaries creates an excessive load for reading becauseapplications are loaded into and discarded from the work memory manytimes. In view of this, in the present embodiment, the timing at whichan application is run is the instant that normal playback by theplayback control engine 32 commences when having entered a Title. Here,PL playback includes normal playback and trick playback. Trick playbackincludes Forward Play, Backward Play, SkipNext and SkipBack.Applications are not run while Forward Play, Backward Play, Skipnext andSkipBack are being performed, and run when normal playback has started.By using the moment at which normal play starts as the basis,applications are not repeatedly run more than necessary even if playbackgoes back and forth across a life cycle. Note that processing that usesthe instant of normal playback starting as a basis to run applicationsmay also be executed in cases in which the life cycle corresponds to aTitle.

As has been described, the present embodiment enables the life cycle ofapplications to be specified in units of chapters, which are smallerthan PLs, and therefore applications can be controlled precisely.

Second Embodiment Modification Example

A priority level is given to each application in FIGS. 25A and 25B. Thepriority level takes values of 0 to 255. When there is competitionbetween applications for use of resources, the application manager 36can use the priority levels to decide which application to terminateforcibly, or which application to regain resources from. In the examplein FIGS. 25A and 25B, the priority level of application#1 is 255, andthe priority level of each of application#2 and application#3 is 128.Therefore, when there is competition between application#1 andapplication#2, the application manager 36 performs processing toforcedly terminate application#2, which has the lower priority level.

Third Embodiment

Disc contents provided from a BD-ROM are composed of a plurality ofTitles that are able to branch between each other. In addition to Titlesthat are constituted from at least one PL and a control procedure thatuses the PL, there are also non-AV Titles that are constituted from onlya control procedure for performing control with respect to the playbackapparatus. These non-AV Titles are described in the present embodiment.

There is an issue of how to set a Title time axis in non-AV Titles. FIG.26A shows a Title time axis set based on a PL time axis. In this case,the PL time axis is used as the Title time axis, and life cycle of theapplication is set on this Title time axis. If there is no PL time axisto use as a basis for the Title time axis, the Title time axis should beset as shown in FIGS. 26B and 26C.

FIG. 26B shows the Title time axis set based on the life cycle of a mainapplication. The main application is the only application that has a runattribute set to AutoRun in the Title and is automatically run when theTitle starts. One example of the main application is a launcherapplication. The launcher application is an application program thatruns other applications.

The concept behind FIG. 26B is that the Title time axis will continue aslong as the main application is running, and the time axis will end ifthe main application terminates. FIG. 26C shows a Title time axis setbased on the life cycles of a plurality of applications. Although onlyone application is run at the start point of the Title, there are casesin which call processing is repeated by this application calling anotherapplication, which in turn calls another application. In this case, theTitle time axis is considered to continue as long as one of theapplications is running, and that the Title time axis will end if astate of no application running is arrived at. If the Title time axis ofa non-AV Title is set in this way, processing to branch to apredetermined Title can be performed simultaneously with the end of theTitle time axis uniformly regardless of whether the Title is an AV Titleor a non-AV Title. Note that the Title time axis in a non-AV Title issimply an imaginary time axis assumed in contrast to an AV Title.Therefore, the playback apparatus is unable to reverse non-AV Titles onthe Title time axis, or cue non-AV Titles to an arbitrary position onthe Title time axis.

The above is an improvement with respect to a recording medium in thepresent embodiment. The following describes an improvement with respectto a playback apparatus of the present embodiment.

The application manager 36 of the third embodiment performs processingsuch as shown in FIG. 27 in order to end Titles using the aboveprocedure. This flowchart has a loop structure in which steps S21 tostep S23 are repeated during Title playback.

At step S21, the application manager 36 judges whether or not a Titlejump API has been called, and if so, makes a request to the modulemanager 34 to branch to a jump destination Title (step S27).

At step S22, the application manager 36 judges whether or not a mainapplication exists that may call an application in the Title, and ifsuch a main application exists, checks whether or not the mainapplication is running (step S25). If the main application is notrunning, the application manager 36 interprets this as being the end ofthe Title, and notifies the module manager 34 that the Title has ended(step S26).

Step S23 is executed if there is no main application (NO at step S22).At step S23, the application manager 36 judges whether or not there areno applications are running. As above, if none are running, theapplication manager 36 interprets this as being the end of the Title,and notifies the module manager 34 that the Title has ended (step S26).

As has been described, with the present embodiment, it is possible evenwith a Title that does not involve PL playback to branch after executionof applications is terminated, rather than branching while applicationsare being executed.

Fourth Embodiment

The present embodiment relates to an improvement that realizes menucontrol similar to that of a DVD, on a BD-ROM. FIG. 28A shows a menuhierarchy realized on a BD-ROM. The menu hierarchy in FIG. 28A isstructured such that a TopMenu is provided on a highest layer, and thesubordinate TitleMenu, SubTitleMenu, and AudioMenu can be selected fromthe TopMenu. The arrows sw1, sw2, and sw3 in FIG. 28A indicate switchingbetween menus according to button selection. The TopMenu is a menu inwhich buttons (sn1, sn2, and sn3 in the FIG. 28A) are provided forreceiving a designation of any of audio selection, subtitle selection orTitle selection.

The TitleMenu is a menu in which buttons are provided for receiving aselection of a movie theater version of a movie (Title), a director'scut of the movie, a game version, or the like. The AudioMenu is a menuin which buttons are provided for receiving a designation of whetheraudio playback should be in Japanese or in English. The SubTitleMenu isa menu in which buttons are provided for receiving a designation ofwhether subtitles should be displayed in Japanese or in English.

FIG. 28B shows a MOVIE object for running the menus having thishierarchy. In FIG. 28B, a FirstPlay OBJ, a TopMenu OBJ, an AudioMenuOBJ, and a SubTitleMenu OBJ are stored in MovieObject.bdmv.

The FirstPlay Object (FirstPlay OBJ) is a dynamic scenario that isautomatically executed when the BD-ROM is loaded into the playbackapparatus.

The TopMenu Object (TopMenu OBJ) is a dynamic scenario that controlsbehavior of the TopMenu. It is this TopMenu Object that is called whenthe user requests a menu call. The TopMenu object includes commands forchanging the state of the buttons in the TopMenu in response tooperations from the user, and branch commands for branching in responseto confirmation operations with respect to the buttons. The branchcommands realize menu switches from the TopMenu to the TitleMenu, theTopMenu to the SubTitleMenu, and the TopMenu to the AudioMenu.

The AudioMenu object (AudioMenu OBJ) is a dynamic scenario that controlsbehavior of the AudioMenu, and includes commands for changing the stateof buttons in the AudioMenu in response to operations from the user, andcommands for updating audio settings in response to confirmationoperations with respect to the buttons.

The SubTitleMenu object (SubTitleMenu OBJ) is a dynamic scenario thatcontrols behavior of the SubTitleMenu, and includes commands forchanging the state of the buttons in the SubTitleMenu in response touser operations, and commands for updating PSR subtitle settings inresponse to confirmation operations with respect to the buttons.

The TitleMenu.object (TitleMenu OBJ) is a dynamic scenario that controlsbehavior of the TitleMenu, and includes commands for changing the stateof the buttons in the TitleMenu, and branch commands for branching inresponse to confirmation operations with respect to the buttons.

These menu-use MOVIE objects realize menu behavior such as that realizedwith DVDs. This completes the description of the MOVIE objects relatingto menu control.

FIG. 29 illustrates an Index Table, and branching from the Index Tableto Movie objects. The left-hand side of FIG. 29 shows the internalstructure of the Index Table. The Index Table in the present embodimentincludes FirstPlayINDEX, TopMenuINDEX, AudioMenuINDEX,SubTitleMenuINDEX, TitleMenuINDEX, Title#1 to #mINDEX, Title#m+1 to#nINDEX, and Title#0INDEX. The arrows bc1 and bc2 in FIG. 29 indicate abranch from the Index Table to the FirstPlayOBJ and a branch from theFirstPlayOBJ to the TopMenu, and the arrows bc3, bc4, and bc5 indicatebranches from the TopMenu to the TitleMenu, the SubTitleMenu, and theAudioMenu. The arrows bc6, bc7, and bc8 indicate branches from theTitleMenu to Movie objects.

The FirstPlayINDEX, TopMenuINDEX, AudioMenuINDEX, SubTitleMenuINDEX, andTitleMenuINDEX are Indexes for the FirstPlayOBJ, TopMenuOBJ,AudioMenuOBJ, SubTitleMenuOBJ, and TitleMenuOBJ, respectively, whoseidentifiers are written in the indexes.

The Title#1 to #mINDEX are Indexes of the Title that are the first tothe m-th entries on the BD-ROM. Written in these Indexes are respectiveidentifiers (IDs) of MOVIE objects that are branch destinations when aTitle number is selected from among 1 to m.

The Title#m+1 to #nINDEX are Indexes of the Titles that are the m+1 ton-th entries on the BD-ROM. Written in these Indexes are respectiveidentifiers (IDs) of BD-J objects that are branch destinations when aTitle number is selected from among m+1 to n.

The Title#0 INDEX is an Index that specifies a Movie object or a BD-Jobject that is a branch destination when a BD-J object is forcedlyterminated. In the present embodiment, the identifier of the TopMenuOBJis stored in this Title#0 INDEX.

FIG. 30A shows branching when the IndexTable is written as shown in FIG.29. Since the Index Table is written in this way, when a branch commandis executed for which the branch destination is any of labels Title#1 toTitle#m, the identifier of the corresponding one of Movie objects #1 to#m is extracted from the corresponding one of Title#1Index toTitle#mIndex. When a branch command is executed for which the branchdestination is any of labels Title#m+1 to Title#n, the identifier of thecorresponding one of Movie objects #m+1 to #n is extracted from thecorresponding one of Title#m+1Index to Title#nIndex. The identifiers ofthe BD-J objects #m+1 to #n each have a 5-digit value that expresses thefile name. Therefore, one of “00001.BD-J, 00002.BD-J, 00003.BD-J . . . ”is extracted, the dynamic scenario of this file name is read to thememory, and executed. This is branch processing using the Index Table.

FIG. 30B shows branching when a BD-J object that is being executed isforcedly terminated. In the branching when the BD-J object is forcedlyterminated, the identifier is extracted from the Title#0Index, and thedynamic scenario of that identifier is executed by the playbackapparatus. If this identifier is the identifier of the top menu Title,the top menu OBJ is automatically selected when the application isforcedly terminated.

The above is an improvement relating to a recording medium of thepresent embodiment. The following describes an improvement relating to aplayback apparatus of the present embodiment. The module manager 34 inthe playback apparatus performs processing according to procedure shownin FIG. 31, to respond to the described improvement in the recordingmedium. FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing the procedure for processing bythe module manager 34. The flowchart includes loop processing that iscomposed of step S31 and step S32, and corresponding processing isexecuted is the case of “YES” at either step S31 or step S32.

At step S31, the module manager 34 judges whether or not there has beena call for a Title jump API, and if there has been a call for a Titlejump API, obtains a Title number j which is the branch destination label(step S33), extracts IDj from the Index of the Title number j in theIndex Table (step S34), and causes the HDMV module 33 or the BD-J module35 to execute the Movie Object or the BD-J object of the IDj (step S35).

At step S32, the module manager 34 judges whether or not there has beennotification of an end of a Title from the application manager 36, andif there has been such notification (YES at step S32), causes the HDMVmodule 33 or the module manager 34 to execute the TopMenuOBJ thatconstitutes the top menu Title (step S36).

The following describes an example of operations when the applicationmanager 36 forcedly terminates an application as described above, withreference to FIG. 32. Here, the Title to be played is a non-AV Titlethat includes a game application in which falling tiles are stacked uponeach other. The lower row in FIG. 32 shows a Title time axis composed ofthe life cycle of the application, and the upper row shows the imagesdisplayed along the Title time axis. If the non-AV Title is a gameapplication, a screen of the game application is displayed as shown onthe left-hand side of the upper_row in FIG. 32 during the life cycle ofthe game application. If the game application terminates abnormally dueto a bug, the application manager 36 forcedly terminates the gameapplication in accordance with the flow chart in FIG. 23, and notifiesthe module manager 34 that the Title has ended. On being notified thatthe Title has ended, the module manager 34 branches to the top menuTitle. This results in an image such as that on the right-hand side ofthe upper row in FIG. 32 being displayed, and an operation from the useris waited for.

In this way, according to the present embodiment, control to branch tothe top menu Title can be performed even when a non-AV Title thatincludes a program but does not include a digital stream ends. Thisavoids blackouts or hang-ups when an application terminates due to anerror.

Fifth Embodiment

The present embodiment relates to an improvement in how synchronizationwith PL playback is realized in BD-J mode. When the Java virtual machine38 decodes a JMF player instance (A.play;) that instructs playback ofthe JMF player instance in the example of FIG. 8B, the Java virtualmachine 38 calls the PL playback API, and directly after calling,returns a response showing “success”, to the application.

If the PL playback API is called, the Playback Control Engine 32executes processing based on the PL information. If the PL has aplayback time of two hours, the aforementioned processing continues forthese two hours. The problem here is that there is a gap in the time atwhich the Java virtual machine 38 returns the success response and thetime at which the playback control engine 32 actually terminates theprocessing. Since the Java virtual machine 38 is an event-drivenprocessing main body, it returns a response showing playback success orplayback failure directly after the call, but because the actualtermination of processing by the playback control engine 32 is two hourslater, if the time at which the success response is returned to theapplication is used as a basis, the completion of processing will bedetected two hours later. If forward play, backward play, or skip areperformed during the PL playback, this playback time of two hours willfluctuate to be more or less than two hours, and detection of thecompletion of processing will be even more difficult.

The playback control engine 32 operates stand alone from theapplication, and therefore is unable to interpret the end of PLplaybackas being the end of the Title in a judgment such as that in the thirdembodiment. For this reason, in the present embodiment, regardless ofwhether the application has terminated or not, the playback controlengine 32 waits for a playback completion event as long as there is aJMF player instance in the work memory 37, in other words, while theBD-J module 35 holds the right to control the presentation engine 31.Then when there is a playback completion event, the playback controlengine 32 interprets this as the Title having ended, and issuesnotification to the module manager 34 to branch to the next Title. Thisprocedure enables playback control engine 32 to treat the point at whichPL playback is complete as the completion of the Title.

The following describes the specific control procedure by the playbackcontrol engine 32, with reference to the flowcharts in FIG. 33 to FIG.37.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing a PL playback procedure by the playbackcontrol engine 32. This playback procedure mainly includes control withrespect to the presentation engine 31 (step S46), and control withrespect to the BD-ROM drive 1 or the HDD 17 (step S48). The PlayItemthat is the processing target in this flowchart is called PlayItem#x.The processing shown in this flowchart is reading of the current PLinformation (.mpls) (step S41), and then executing processing of stepS42 to step S50. Step S42 to step S50 constitute loop processing inwhich the processing of step S43 to step S50 is repeatedly performed foreach piece of PI information the constitutes the current PL information,until the result of step S49 is “YES”. The PlayItem that is the targetprocessing in the loop processing is called PlayItem#x (PI#x).PlayItem#x is initialized by being set as the head PlayItem in thecurrent PL (step S42). The requirement for ending the aforementionedloop processing is that PlayItem#x is the last PlayItem of the currentPL (step S49). If PlayItem#x is not the last PlayItem, the next PlayItemin the current PL is set as PlayItem#x (step S50).

In step S43 to step S50 that are repeatedly executed in the loopprocessing, the playback control engine 32 reads the Clip informationspecified by the Clip_information_file_name of PlayItem#x to thescenario memory 21 (step S43), converts the In_time of PlayItem#x to anI picture address u using the EP_map of the current Clip information(step S44), converts the Out_time PlayItem#x to an I picture address vusing the EP_map of the current Clip information (step S45), finds thenext I picture after the address v obtained according to theseconversions, and sets the address one before the found I picture as anaddress w (step S47). Then, using the calculated address w, the playbackcontrol engine 32 instructs the BD-ROM drive 1 or the HDD 17 to read TSpackets from the I picture address u through to the address w (stepS48).

Meanwhile, the playback control engine 32 instructs the presentationengine 31 to output the mark_time_stamp of the current PLMark through tothe Out_time of PlayItem#x (step S46). The above step S45 to step S48result in the part of the AVClip instructed according to PlayItem#xbeing played.

Next, the playback control engine 32 judges whether PlayItem#x is thelast PI of the current PL (step S49).

If PlayItem#x is not the last PI of the current PL, the playback controlengine 32 sets the next PlayItem in the current PL as PlayItem#x (stepS50), and returns to step S43. As a result of repeating step S43 to stepS50, the PIs that constitute the PL are successively played.

FIG. 34 is a flowchart showing an angle switch procedure and a SkipBackand SkipNext procedure. The processing of this flowchart is performed inparallel with the processing of FIG. 33, and includes loop processingcomposed of step S51 to step S52 that is performed repeatedly. At stepS51 in this loop, the playback control engine 32 judges whether or notthere has been a call from the Java virtual machine 38 for an API thatrequests angle switching, and if there has been a call for an angleswitching API, the playback control engine 32 executes an operation forswitching the current Clip information.

At step S55 of FIG. 34, the playback control engine 32 judges whether ornot is_multi_angles of PlayItem#x is ON. Here, is_multi_angles is a flagshowing whether or not PlayItem#x is multi-angle-compatible, and if theresult of step S55 is NO, moves to step S53. If the result of step S55is YES, the playback control engine 32 executes step S56 to step S59. Atstep S56 to step S59, the playback control engine 32 substitutes theangle number after switching into a variable y (step S56), reads Clipinformation specified by the y-th Clip_information_file_name inPlayItem#x to the scenario memory 21 (step S57), converts the currentPTM to an I picture address u using the EP_map of the current Clipinformation (step S58), and converts the Out_time of PlayItem#x to an Ipicture address v using the EP_map of the current Clip information (stepS59). After changing the I picture addresses u and v in this way, theplayback control engine 32 moves to step S46. TS packets of anotherAVClip are read according to the move to step S46, and hence thecontents of the video are switched.

Meanwhile, at step S52 in the loop in FIG. 34, the playback controlengine 32 judges whether or not there has been a call for an APIsignifying SkipBack/SkipNext from the Java virtual machine 38, and ifthere has been such a call, executes the processing of the flowchart ofFIG. 35. FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing processing when a SkipBack orSkipNext API is called. There are a wide variety of ways in whichSkipBack and SkipNext can be executed. It should be noted that thedescription given here is simply one example.

At step S61, the playback control engine 32 obtains the current Markinformation by converting the current PI number and the current PTMshown in the PSR. At step S62 the playback control engine 32 judgeswhether the key that was pressed is the SkipNext key or the SkipBackkey. The playback control engine 32 sets a direction flag to +1 if thepressed key is the SkipNext key, and to −1 if the pressed key is theSkipBack key.

At step S65, the playback control engine 32 sets, as the number of thecurrent PLMark, a number that is a total of the number of the currentPLMark and the value of the direction flag. If the pressed key is theSkipNext key, the direction flag is set to +1, and therefore the currentPLMark is incremented. If the pressed key is the SkipBack key, thedirection flag is set to −1, and therefore the current PLMark isdecremented.

At step S66, the playback control engine 32 sets the PI written in theref_to_PlayItem_Id of the current PLMark, as PlayItem#x, and at stepS67, reads the Clip information specified by theClip_information_file_name of PlayItem#x. At step S68, the playbackcontrol engine 32 converts the mark_time_stamp of the current PLMark toan I picture address u using the EP_map of the current Clip information.On the other hand, at step S69, the playback control engine 32 convertsthe Out_time of PlayItem#x to an I picture address v using the EP_map ofthe current Clip information. At step S70, the playback control engine32 instructs the presentation engine 31 to output from themark_time_stamp through to the Out_time of PlayItem#x, and then movesstep S47 of FIG. 33. As a result of changing the I picture addresses uand v in this way, and moving to step S47 after instructing playback ofanother part, TS packets from another AVClip are read, thus realizingthe switching of the video contents.

FIG. 36 is a flowchart showing details of processing by the presentationengine 31. This flowchart includes setting of the PTS of the I picturein the current PTM (step S71), and subsequent execution of loopprocessing composed of step S72 to step S77.

Next the loop processing in step S72 to step S77 is described. This loopprocessing repeats playback output of picture and audio corresponding tothe current PTM and updating of the current PTM. Step S76 in this loopprocessing specifies the requirement for ending the loop processing. Inother words, step S76 specifies that the requirement for ending the loopprocessing is that the current PTM is the Out_time of PI#x.

At step S73, the presentation engine 31 judges whether there has been acall for a Forward Play API or a Backward Play API from the Java virtualmachine 38. If there has been a call, the presentation engine 31 judgesat step S78 which of a Forward Play API and a Backward Play API the callis for, and if the call is for a Forward Play API, sets the PTS of thenext I picture as the current PTM (step S79). By setting the PTS of thenext I picture as the current PTM is this way, the AVClip is playedjumping one second at a time. As a result, the AVClip is played fast inthe forward direction at double speed or the like. If the call is for aBackward Play API, the presentation engine 31 judges whether or not thecurrent PTM has reached the Out_time of PlayItem#x (step S80). If theOut_time has not been reached, the PTS of the directly preceding Ipicture is set as the current PTM (step S81). By setting theread-destination address A as the preceding I picture in this way, theAVClip is played in the backward direction jumping one second at a time.As a result, the AVClip is played in the reverse direction at doublespeed or the like. Note that there are a wide variety of ways in whichForward Play and Backward Play can be executed. It should be noted thatthe description given here is simply one example.

At step S74, the presentation engine 31 judges whether or not a menucall API has been called, and if a menu call API has been called,suspends the present playback processing (step S82), and executes a menuprogram that is for menu processing (step S83). According to the aboveprocessing, if there is a menu call, the processing for menu display isexecuted after suspending playback processing.

At step S75, the presentation engine 31 judges whether or not aSubPlayItem#y that specifies PlayItem#x according to a sync_PlayItem_idexists, and if so, moves to the flowchart of FIG. 37. FIG. 37 is aflowchart showing a SubPlayItem playback procedure. In this flowchart,the presentation engine 31 first judges at step S86 whether or not thecurrent PTM is the sync_start_PTS_of_playItem of SubPlayItem#y. If so,at step S93, the presentation engine 31 instructs the playback controlengine 32 to perform playback processing based on SubPlayItem#y.

Step S87 to step S92 of FIG. 37 are a flowchart showing playbackprocessing based on SubPlayItem#y.

At step S87, the presentation engine 31 reads the Clip informationspecified by the Clip_information_file_name of the SubPlayItem#y. Atstep S88, the presentation engine 31 converts the In_time ofSubPlayItem#y to an address a using the EP_map of the current Clipinformation. On the other hand, at step S89, the presentation engine 31converts the Out_time of SubPlayItem#y to an address β using the EP_mapof the current Clip information. At step S90, the presentation engine 31instructs the decoder to output from the In_time of SubPlayItem#y to theOut_time of SubPlayItem#y. The presentation engine 31 finds the next Ipicture after the address β obtained by the conversions, and sets theaddress one before the found I picture as an address γ (step S91). Thepresentation engine 31 instructs the BD-ROM drive 1 or the HDD 17 toread the TS packets from the address a and the address γ in SubClip#zusing the address γ calculated in this way (step S92).

Returning to FIG. 33, the following describes processing by the playbackcontrol engine 32. At step S53, the playback control engine 32 judgeswhether or not playback control by the presentation engine 31 iscomplete, and the result of step S53 is “NO” as long as the processingof the flowchart of FIG. 36 is being performed with respect to the lastPlayItem#x. Once the processing of the flowchart of FIG. 36 has ended,the result of step S53 is “YES”, and the playback control engine 32moves to step S54. At step S54, the playback control engine 32 outputs aplayback completion event to the Java virtual machine 38. This outputenables the Java virtual machine 38 to know that the playback time oftwo hours has elapsed.

This completes the processing by the playback control engine 32 and thepresentation engine 31 of the present embodiment. The followingdescribes processing by the application manager 36 in the presentembodiment. FIG. 38 is a flowchart showing processing by the applicationmanager 36 in the fifth embodiment.

The flowchart of FIG. 38 is an improvement of the flowchart of FIG. 27.The improvement is the addition of a step S24 between step S21 and stepS22, and existence of a step S101 that is executed when the result ofstep S24 is “YES”.

At step S24, the application manager 36 judges whether or not a JMFplayer instance exists in the work memory 37, and if a JMF playerinstance does not exist in the work memory 37, moves to step S22. If aJMF player instance does exist in the work memory 37, the applicationmanager 36 moves to step S101. At step S101, the application manager 36judges whether or not a playback completion event has been output by theplayback control engine 32, and if a playback completion event has beenoutput, deletes the Java player instance in the work memory (step S102),and notifies the module manager 34 that the Title has ended (step S26).If the application manager 36 does not make this notification, the loopprocessing composed of step S21 to step S24 is repeated.

In the above flowchart, as long as a JMF player instance exists in thework memory 37 (YES at step S24), step S22 and step S23 are skipped. Forthis reason, the Title is interpreted as continuing even if allapplications are terminated.

In this way, according to the present embodiment, the applicationmanager 36 is able to grasp the point at which the playback time of twohours has elapsed. This enables a menu whose condition for beingdisplayed is the end of PL playback to be displayed, and enables controlto be performed such that a branch is performed to another Title inresponse to an operation performed with respect to the menu.

Sixth Embodiment

The sixth embodiment relates to an improvement in providing datamanagement tables in BD-J objects.

A data management table (DMT) is a table in which each of Java archivefiles to be loaded into the local memory 29 on the Title time axisthereof is in correspondence with a read attribute and a read prioritylevel. “Living in local memory 29” refers to a state in which a Javaarchive file that constitutes the application can be read from the localmemory 29 and transferred to the work memory 37 in the Java virtualmachine 38. FIG. 39 shows an example of a data management table. Asshown in FIG. 39, the data management table shows a “life cycle” of eachapplication, an “application ID” that identifies the application thathas the life cycle, a “read attribute” of the application and a “readpriority” of the application.

The concept of life cycle that exists in the application managementtable described earlier is the same as concept of the life cycle of thedata management table. Although the it may seem pointless to provide thesame concept as the application management table in the data managementtable, there is a purpose to this.

FIG. 40 shows an execution model that assumes a BD-J object. Theexecution model in FIG. 40 is composed of a BD-ROM, the local memory 29,and the Java virtual machine 38, and shows the relationship between theBD-ROM, the local memory 29, and the work memory 37. An arrow my1indicates reading between from the BD-ROM to the local memory 29, and anarrow my2 indicates reading from the local memory 29 to the work memory37. The explanatory notes with each of the arrows show the timing withwhich that reading is performed. According to the explanatory notes, thereading from the BD-ROM to the local memory 29 is so-called“pre-reading”, and must be performed before the application is required.

Further it can be seen from the explanatory notes that the reading fromthe local memory 29 to the work memory 37 is performed when theapplication becomes required. “Becoming required” denotes (1) the pointin time at which the life cycle of the application arrives, and (2) acall for the application is instructed by another application or theapplication manager 36.

An arrow my3 indicates freeing of an area occupied by the application inthe work memory 37, and an arrow my4 indicates freeing of an areaoccupied by the application in local memory 29. The explanatory notesindicate the timing with which this reading is performed. As can beenseen from the explanatory notes, the work memory 37 is freedsimultaneously with termination of the application. On the other hand,the local memory 29 is freed at the point when the application is nolonger required by the Java virtual machine 38. The point when theapplication is no longer required refers not to the “termination point”,but to the point, after the termination point, when there is nopossibility that the application will be rerun, in other words, thepoint when the Title ends. Of this reading and freeing, the point atwhich the work memory 37 is freed is determined based on the life cyclein the application management table. However, it is not possible tospecify the point before the application is required, or the point,after termination, when there is no possibility that the applicationwill be rerun. For this reason, the cycles for which the applicationlive are written separately to the application management table in thedata management table during the authoring stage, in order to specifythe various points on the overall time axis of the disc content. Inother words, by defining the point before an application is required asa start point of the life cycle in the data management table, anddefining the point when there is no possibility that the applicationwill be rerun as the end point of the life cycle in the data managementtable, the described changes in what the local memory 29 stores can bespecified at the authoring stage. This is the significance of definingthe data management table.

The following describes how the life cycles in the local memory 29 aredefined in the data management table. Here, the disc content to beproduced is composed of three Titles (Title#1, Title#2, and Title#3).These Titles are assumed to use the local memory 29 with the timing onthe time axes of the Titles as shown in FIG. 41B. In this case, Javaarchive files that constitute application#1 and application#2 are readto the local memory 29 at the staring point of the Title#1 time axis,and are kept in the local memory 29 while the Title#1 time axiscontinues. Next, the Java archive file that constitutes application#1 isfreed from the local memory 29 at the start point of the Title#2 timeaxis, and, in place of application#2, the Java archive file thatconstitutes application#3 is read to the application memory 29 and kepttherein (Hereinafter, “application” is used in the same sense as theJava application files that constitute an application). Here, the datamanagement table is written as in FIG. 41A, and writing the applicationIDs of the applications in correspondence with the life cycles of theapplications makes it possible to express which application should bekept in the local memory 29. In FIG. 41A, the applicationID ofapplication#1 is in written correspondence with Title#1, theapplicationID of application#2 is in correspondence with Title#1 andTitle#2, and the application ID of the application#3 is written incorrespondence with Title#3. Defining correspondence in this way meansthat the temporal change of the occupation of the local memory 29 isspecified by the author.

In terms of the combination of the data management table and theapplication management table, it is preferable that the life cyclesspecified in the application management table are defined in small unitsof playback, while the life cycles specified in the data managementtable are rough units of playback. The rough units of playback arepreferably units of non-seamless playback, such as Titles and PLs. Onthe other hand, the small units of playback are preferably units ofseamless playback such as chapters in PLs. If the life cycle of anapplication is set for each Title and each PL, the application willexist in the local memory 29, and therefore will be in a state of beingable to be extracted at any time during playback of a Title. If theapplication is able to be extracted at any time during playback of theTitle, the application will be able to be read to the work memory in thevirtual machine immediately, even if the life cycle of the applicationis set in small units of playback. This means that the application willbe able to be executed smoothly even if it is run and terminatedfrequently.

The following describes read attributes.

Although the Java archive files shown in FIG. 2 were assumed to berecorded in a separate recording area to the AVClips, this is simply oneexample. There are cases in which the Java archive files are embedded inthe recording area occupied by the AVCLips on the BD-ROM. There are twoembedding formats: carousels and interleave units.

Here, the carousel format denotes converting data to a broadcast methodin which the same content is repeatedly broadcast in order to realizeinteractive broadcasting. Although the BD-ROM does not store broadcastdata, the BD-ROM stores Java archive files in the fashion of a carouselbroadcast method in the present embodiment. FIG. 42 shows how Javaarchive files are embedded according to the carousel method. The firstrow is the Java archive files embedded in an AVClip, and the second rowshows the data made into a section. The third row shows the data madeinto TS packets, and the fourth row shows the TS packet series theconstitutes the AV clip. The data that has been made into a section andinto TS packets (“D” in FIG. 42), is embedded in the AVClip. The javaarchive files multiplexed on the AVClip as carousels are read at a lowband. This low-frequency reading takes considerable time, typically twoto three minutes, and therefore the playback apparatus spends two tothree minutes reading the Java archive files.

FIG. 43A shows how Java archive files are embedded according tointerleaving. The first row is an AVClip into which the Java archivefiles are to be embedded, the second row is the Java archive filesinterleaved in the AVClip, and the third row shows the arrangement ofthe AVClip in the recording area of the BD-ROM. As shown in FIG. 43A,the Java archive files to be embedded in the stream are interleaved, andrecorded between the separate parts (AVClip 2/4 and AVClip 3/4 in FIG.43A) that constitute XXXXX.m2ts that constitutes the AVCLip. Thisinterleaving enables the Java archive files multiplexed on the AVClip tobe read with relatively high frequency compared to the carousel format.The playback apparatus can read the Java archive files in a relativelyshort amount of time due to this high-frequency reading.

The Java archive files in the carousel format or the interleaved formatare not preloaded, but are loaded into the local memory 29 of theplayback apparatus when the current playback position reaches the partof the AVClip recording area on the BD-ROM in which the Java archivefiles in the carousel format or the interleaved format are embedded.Instead of the manner shown in FIG. 2, the Java archive files may berecorded in the manner shown in FIG. 42 or in FIG. 43A. A read attributemay be set as shown in FIG. 43B. The types of read attribute are:“Preload” showing that the Java archive file should be read to the localmemory 29 before Title playback; “Load. Carousel” showing that the Javaarchive file should be read in carousel format during Title playback,and “Load.InterLeave” showing that the Java archive file should be readin interleaved format during Title playback. Although the readattributes are expressed with suffixes showing whether to read incarousel format or interleaved format, these suffixes may be omitted.

A specific example of how life cycles are defined in a data managementtable is described with reference to FIGS. 44A and 44B. FIG. 44A showsan example of a data management table. FIG. 44B shows changes in thestorage content of the local memory 29 according to allocation by thedata management table. In FIG. 44B, the vertical axis direction showsthe occupied area of the local memory 29, and the horizontal axis showsthe PL time axis of one Title. The life cycle of application#1 isdefined in the data management table as the entire PL time axis of theone Title, and therefore application#1 occupies area in the local memory29 during Chapter#1 to Chapter#5. The life cycle of application#2 isdefined in the data management table as Chapter#1 and Chapter#2 in PL#1in the Title, and therefore application#2 occupies area in the localmemory 29 during Chapter#1 to Chapter#2. The life cycle of application#3is defined in the data management table as Chapter#4 and Chapter#5 inPL#1 in the Title, and therefore application#3 occupies area in thelocal memory 29 during Chapter#4 to Chapter#5. This completes thedescription of life cycles in the data management table.

Next, the read priority level is described. The read priority level is apriority level that determines priority with respect to reading to thelocal memory 29. The priority level has one of a plurality of possiblevalues. If two levels of priority are provided, the read priority levelis set to a value showing Mandatory or a value showing Optional. In thiscase, Mandatory shows a high read priority level and Optional shows alow read priority level. If three levels of priority are provided, theread priority level is set to a value showing Mandatory, or a valueshowing Optional:high or Optional:low. Mandatory shows the highest readpriority level, Optional:high shows a medium read priority level, andOptional:low shows a low read priority level. A specific example of howread priority levels are defined in the data management table isdescribed with reference to FIGS. 45A and 45B. The local memory 29 isassumed to have memory scale such as shown in FIG. 45A. FIG. 45A shows acomparison of memory scales of the local memory 29 in both a newplayback apparatus and an old playback apparatus. An arrow mk1 shows thememory scale in an old playback apparatus, and an arrow mk2 shows thememory scale in a new playback apparatus. Comparing the arrows, thememory scale of the local memory 29 in the new playback apparatus isestimated to be at least three times that of the old playback apparatus.In view of such variation in memory scale, applications are classifiedinto two groups such as shown in FIG. 45B. The first group isapplications that should be read regardless of the memory scale(application#1, application#2). The second group is applications that itis not desirable to read in an old playback apparatus, but it isdesirable to read in a new playback apparatus (application#3,application#4). If applications to be read are classified into these twogroups, a read priority level of Mandatory is set with respect toapplications belonging to the former group, and read priority level ofOptional is set with respect to applications belonging to the lattergroup. FIG. 45B shows an example of the data management table in whichread priority levels have been set. If application#1 to application#4are recorded on the BD-ROM with the data management table having beenset in this way, playback can be guaranteed in playback apparatuses ofvarious memory scales, and playback apparatuses with large memory scalescan be made to play applications using data that is even larger in size.

This completes the improvement relating to the recording medium of thepresent embodiment. The following describes an improvement relating tothe playback apparatus of the present embodiment. The applicationmanager 36 performs processing according to procedure shown in FIG. 46,to respond to the described improvement in the recording medium.

FIG. 46 shows processing for preload control by the application manager36. The flowchart includes loop processing in which the following isrepeated: the application manager 36 reads the data management table ofthe Title to be played (step S111), sets, as application i, theapplication that has the highest read priority level in the dataapplication management table and that has the lowest application ID(step S112), and after judgments at step S113 and step S114, preloadsapplication i into the local memory 29 (step S115). The applicationmanager 36 repeats this processing until the result of the judgment atstep S116 is “NO” and the result of the judgment at step S117 is “NO”.

At step S113, the application manager 36 judges whether or not the readattribute of application i is Preload, and at step S114, judges whetherthe read priority level is Mandatory or Optional. If the read attributeis judged to be Preload at step S113 and the read priority level isjudged to be Mandatory at step S114, the application is preloaded intothe local memory 29 (step S115). If the read attribute is judged to beLoad at step S113, step S114 and step S115 are skipped.

Of the two steps that specify requirements for ending the loopprocessing, at step S116 the application manager 36 judges whether ornot an application k exists that has the next highest applicationIDafter application i and has the same read priority level as applicationi. If such an application k exists, the application manager 36 sets thisapplication k as application i (step S119).

Of the two steps that specify requirements for ending the loopprocessing, at step S117 the application manager 36 judges whether ornot any applications that have the next lowest read priority level inthe data management table, and if such applications exit, theapplication manager 36 selects the one among the applications having thenext lowest read priority level that has the lowest applicationID, asapplication k (step S118), and sets application k as application i (stepS119). The processing from step S113 to step S115 is repeated as long asthe result of step S116 and step S117 is “YES”. The processing of theflowchart ends when there are no longer any relevant applications atstep S116 and step S117.

Step S120 to step S123 are processing that is executed when the readpriority level is judged to be Optional at step S114.

At step S120, the application manager 36 judges whether or not anapplication j exists that has the same applicationID and has a highpriority level.

At step S121, the application manager 36 judges whether or not theremaining capacity of the local memory 29 exceeds the size ofapplication i. If the result of step S120 is “NO” and the result of stepS121 is “YES”, application i is preloaded to the local memory 29 at stepS115. If the result of step S120 is “NO” and the result of step S121 is“NO”, the processing moves to step S116 without application i beingpreloaded in the local memory.

By processing in this way, data for which the read priority level isOptional is not preloaded into the local memory 29 unless the results ofthe judgments at step S120 and step S121 are “YES”. With an old playbackapparatus that has a small memory scale, the result of the judgment atstep S121 will be “NO” after approximately two or three applicationshave been read, but with a new playback apparatus that has a largememory scale, a result “NO” will not be produced in the judgment at stepS121. In this way, only applications that are “Mandatory” are read tothe local memory 29 in an old playback apparatus, whereas applicationsthat are “Mandatory” and applications that are “Optional” are read tothe local memory 29 in a new playback apparatus.

Step S122 is executed if the result of the judgment at step S120 is“YES”. If an application j that has the same application ID and a highread priority level exists, the application manager 36 judges whether ornot the total of the remaining capacity of the local memory 29 and thesize of application j exceeds the size of application i (step S122), andif the total exceeds the size of application i, preloads application iinto the local memory 36 by overwriting application j (step S123). Ifthe total does not exceed the size of application i, the processingmoves to step S116 without preloading application i into the localmemory 29.

An example of read processing at step S115 and step S123 is describedwith reference to FIG. 47A. FIG. 47A shows an example of a datamanagement table assumed in this specific example is based. Each ofthree applications in FIG. 47A is stored in three files that have thesame application ID (application ID=1), but mutually different readpriority levels (Mandatory, Optional:high, Optional:low). If a datamanagement table set in this way is the target of processing, theapplication that has a read priority level “Mandatory” is read to thelocal memory 29 according to step S115. However, applications having theread priority level “Optional” will be read after the judgments at stepS120 to step S122, at step S123. Unlike step S115, at step S123 anapplication is preloaded so as to overwrite an application having thesame application ID that already exists in the local memory 29, andtherefore one of a plurality of applications is read exclusively to thelocal memory 29.

i) When reading the application having the read priority level“Optional:high” after the application having the read priority level“Mandatory” has been read, the application having the read prioritylevel “Mandatory” remains in the local memory 29 if the result of thejudgment at step S122 is “NO”. When reading the application having theread priority level “Optional:high” after the application having theread priority level “Mandatory” has been read, if the result of thejudgment at step S122 is “YES”, the application having the read prioritylevel “mandatory” is overwritten with the application having the readpriority level “Optional:high”, and the application having the readpriority level “Optional:high” remains in the local memory 29.

ii) When reading the application having the read priority level“Optional:low” after the application having the read priority level“Optional:high”, the application having the read priority level“mandatory” remains in the local memory 29 if the result of the judgmentat step S122 is “NO”. When reading the application having the readpriority level “Optional:low” after the application having the readpriority level “Optional:high”, if the result of the judgment at stepS122 is “YES”, the application having the read priority level“Optional:high” is overwritten with the application having the readpriority level “Optional:low” (step S123), and the application havingthe read priority level “Optional:low” remains in the local memory 29.

Processing to overwrite the applications in the local memory 29 isrepeated as long as the capacity of the local memory 29 allows it, andtherefore the storage contents of the local memory 29 change in thefollowing manner: Mandatory=Optional:high=>Optional:low, as shown inFIG. 47B. Java archive files of differing sizes are loaded into thelocal memory 29 in accordance with the memory scale, and consequently,Java archive files can be loaded into the local memory 29 such thatthose having thumbnail images with minimum necessary resolution areloaded in the case of a playback apparatus having a small memory scale,those having medium-resolution SD images are loaded in the case of aplayback apparatus having a medium memory scale, and those havinghigh-resolution HD images are loaded in the case of a playback apparatushaving a large memory scale. Loading in this way enables images ofdiffering resolutions to be displayed in accordance with the memoryscale, and gives the author a greater range of expression in creatingTitles.

FIGS. 48A to 48C show a specific example of reading processing thatreferences a data management table. FIGS. 48A to 48C show twoapplications that have been assigned the same applicationID(application#3). One of the two applications is embedded in an AVClipand has a read priority level “Mandatory”, and the other is recorded asa separate file to the AVClip and has a read priority level of“Optional”. Since the former application is embedded in the AVCLip, thelife cycle of the embedded part is defined as “Title#1:chapter#4-#5”. Ofthe applications, application#2 and application#3 are assigned the readattribute “Load”, application#2 has a life cycle “Chapter#1 toChapter#2”, and application#3 has a life cycle “Chapter#4 to Chapter#5”.Therefore, at a given point on the Title time axis, one of the two isalways exclusively in the local memory 29. FIG. 48B shows application#2and application#3 stored exclusively at different points on the Titletime axis. This is in consideration of playback in a playback apparatusthat has only the minimum necessary memory scale. With the datamanagement table having the described contents as the target ofprocessing, the application manager 36 performs processing different tothat in the above FIG. 46, in accordance with the memory scale.

The latter application has a read priority level “Load”, and thereforeis loaded into the local memory 29. With such processing, theapplication manager can load data into the local memory 29 as long asthere is sufficient memory scale for applications having the readattribute “Mandatory”. The problem here is the timing with which aplayback apparatus having a large memory scale reads. Despite having alarge memory scale, such a playback apparatus cannot read application#3until reaching Chapter#4-Chapter#5, and therefore the memory scale iswasted. In view of this problem, in the data management table of FIG.48A, the same application#3 is recorded on the BD-ROM, having beinggiven a read attribute showing “Preload”, and the applications are giventhe same applicationID.

The former application has a read priority level “Optional”, andtherefore is preloaded only if the result of step S121 is “YES” (stepS115). This enables a playback apparatus having a large memory scale toload an application the same as an application embedded in an AVClip tothe local memory 29 without waiting to reach Chapter#4-Chapter#5 ofTitle#1 (FIG. 48C).

This completes the processing when preloading. The following describesthe procedure for processing when loading.

FIG. 49 shows the procedure for load processing based on a datamanagement table. This flowchart includes loop processing composed ofstep S131 to step S133 that is repeated while playback of a Titlecontinues.

At step S131, the application manager 36 judges whether or not the startof the life cycle of an application having an run attribute showingAutoRun has been reached. If the start of the life cycle has beenreached, the application manager 36 sets the application having the runattribute showing AutoRun as an application q (step S134), issues a runinstruction instructing running of application q to the Java virtualmachine 38, and causes the application q to be read from the localmemory 29 to the work memory 37 (step S135).

At step S133, the application manager 36 judges whether playback of allPLs in the Title has ended. This judgment is made based on whether ornot a playback completion event is received from the playback controlengine 32, as shown in the fifth embodiment. If playback has ended, theprocessing in the present flowchart ends.

At step S132, the application manager 36 judges whether or not there hasbeen a call from an application currently running. If there has been acall, the application manager 36 sets the call destination applicationas application q (step S136), and judges whether or not the currentplayback position corresponds to the life cycle of application q in theapplication management table (step S137). If the current playback pointdoes not correspond to the life cycle of application q, display isperformed to indicate a run failure (step S148), and the applicationmanager 36 returns to the loop processing composed of step S131 to stepS133. If the current playback point corresponds to the life cycle ofapplication q, the application manager 36 performs load processing inaccordance with the flowchart in FIG. 50.

At step S138 in FIG. 50, the application manager 36 judges whether ornot the current playback position corresponds to the life cycle ofapplication q in the data management table. If the current playbackposition does not correspond to the life cycle, application q cannot beloaded into the local memory 29. In this case, the application manager36 issues a run instruction instructing running of application q, to theJava virtual machine 38, and the java virtual machine 38 readsapplication q from the BD-ROM to the work memory 37 directly, not viathe local memory 29. In this case, a head scene to read this applicationoccurs, and therefore PLplayback is suspended (step S145).

If the current playback position corresponds to the life cycle, at stepS139 the application manager 36 judges whether or not a read attributeis attached to the application. If there is no read attribute, thismeans that application q is either in carousel format or interleavedformat. However, application q is permitted to be put into the localmemory 29 even if it does not have an attached read attribute. In viewof this, reading of the application is performed with the knowledge thatplayback will be suspended. In other words, after the application isread from the BD-ROM to the local memory 29, it is then read to the workmemory 37 (step S140).

Step S141 to step S146 is processing that is performed if the result ofthe judgment at step S139 is “YES”. At step S141 the application manager36 refers to the read attribute to judge whether or not the applicationis preloaded. If the application is preloaded, the application manager36 moves to step S135.

Step S142 is a judgment step that is executed if the read attribute is“load”. At step S142 the application manager 36 judges whetherapplication q is in carousel format or interleaved format. Ifapplication q is in interleaved format, the application manager 36 makesthe Java virtual machine execute cache sense (step S143). If applicationq exists in the local memory 29, the application manager 36 moves tostep S135, and has application q loaded in the Java virtual machine 38.

If the application is not in the local memory 29, exception processingsuch as branching to the top menu Title is performed (step S144). If theapplication is in carousel format, the application manager 36 sets atimer (step S148), and has the Java virtual machine 38 execute cachesense (step S146) until the timer times out (step S147). If applicationq appears in the local memory 29, the application manager moves to stepS135, and has the Java virtual machine 38 load application q. When thetimer times out, exception processing such as branching to the top menuTitle is performed (step S144).

FIG. 51 illustrates how the Java virtual machine 38 reads applications.

Arrows ⊚1 and ⊚2 indicate reading of a Java archive file that lives inthe application management table, lives in the data management table,and has a read attribute showing carousel format or interleaved format.The arrow ⊚1 indicates sensing of the local memory 29 at steps S65 andS67. The local memory 29 performs sensing because data embeddedaccording to carousels or interleaving may exist in the local memory 29.The arrow ⊚2 is a read that corresponds to step S135, and indicatesloading from the local memory 29 to the work memory 37 in the case ofthe application existing in the local memory 29. The arrow with a cross(X) indicates a case of data not existing in the local memory 29.

Arrows ∇1 and ∇2 indicate a read of Java application files that live inthe application management table, but do not live in the data managementtable and do not have a read attribute.

The arrow ∇1 is a read that corresponds to step S145, and indicates arequest for a directory read from the BD-ROM by the Java virtual machine38. The arrow ∇2 indicates the reading of the Java archive file from theBD-ROM to the work memory 37 in response to the request.

Arrows ⋆1, ⋆2, and ⋆3 indicate a read of a Java archive file that livesin the application management table and lives in the data managementtable, but does not have a read attribute.

The arrow ⋆1 is a read that corresponds to step S140, and indicates arequest for a directory read from the BD-ROM by the Java virtual machine38. The arrow ⋆2 indicates the reading of the Java archive file from theBD-ROM to the local memory 29 in response to the request. The arrow ⋆3indicates a read of the Java archive file from the local memory 29 tothe work memory 37.

As has been described, according to the present embodiment, the numberof applications that are kept in the local memory 29 at any one time isspecified so as to be no more than a predetermined number, thuseffectively avoiding cache mistakes when reading from the local memory.Since applications are guaranteed to be read without cache mistakes,playback of AVCLips does not have to be stopped in order to read anapplication from the BD-ROM. Eliminating interruptions in playback ofAVClip guarantees seamless playback of AVCLips.

Seventh Embodiment

In the third embodiment, the time axis of non-AV Titles were set basedon the life cycle of applications. However, applications run unstably,and may fail to run or terminate abnormally. The present embodimentproposes a fail safe structure for when an application fails to run orterminates abnormally. FIG. 52A shows the internal structure of a BD-Jobject relating to the present embodiment. Comparing FIG. 52A with FIG.7B, the addition of a PlayList management table is new in FIG. 52A.

FIG. 52B shows an example of a PlayList management table. The PlayListmanagement table shown in FIG. 52B is composed of PlayListspecifications and playback attributes of the specified PlayLists. Eachspecification of a PL shows a PL that is playable on the Title time axisof a corresponding Title. Each playback attribute shows whether or notthe corresponding specified PL should be automatically playedsimultaneously with the start of playback of the corresponding Title (APL automatically played in this way is referred to as a default PL).

The following describes how a Title time axis is specified according tothe PlayList management table, with reference to FIGS. 53A to 53D. FIG.53A shows the Title time axis of a non-AV Title in a case of theplayback attribute being set to show non-automatic playback. In thiscase, because the default PL is not played, the Title time axis is setbased on the life cycle of the application in the same way as with anon-AV Title.

FIG. 53B shows a Title time axis of a non-AV Title for which theplayback attribute is set to AutoPlay. If the playback attribute is setto show AutoPlay, the playback control engine 32 starts playback of thedefault PL simultaneously with the start of playback of the non-AVTitle. However, this Title time axis is set based on the PL time axisregardless of whether the application runs normally or terminatesabnormally.

FIG. 53C shows a case of the playback attribute being set to show“AutoPlay” in the PlayList management table, and the applicationterminating abnormally. Although the abnormal termination of theapplication means that no applications are running, playback of thedefault PL continues. The PL time axis of the default PL becomes theTitle time axis in this case also.

FIG. 53D shows a case of the playback attribute being set to show“AutoPlay” in the PlayList management table, and the main applicationfailing to run. In this case also, the playback control engine 32 playsthe default PL regardless of whether the application fails to run ornot, and therefore the time axis of the default PL becomes the Titletime axis.

In this way, if the playback attribute is set to “AutoPlay” in thePlayList management table, something will be shown on the screen while aJava application is being run, even if it takes somewhere in thevicinity of 5 to 10 seconds to run the Java application. This state ofsomething being shown on the screen compensates for the startup delaywhen executing a Title.

The above is an improvement relating to a recording medium of thepresent embodiment. The following describes an improvement relating to aplayback apparatus of the present embodiment.

FIG. 52C shows how the playback apparatus processes in a case of a PLexisting whose playback attribute is set to “AutoPlay” in the PlayListmanagement table of a branch destination Title. As shown in FIG. 52C, ifa PL whose playback attribute is set to “AutoPlay” exists in thePlayList management table of a branch destination Title, the applicationmanager 36 of the BD-J module 35 instructs the playback control engine32 to start playback of the AutoPlayPL directly after branching to theTitle. In this way, a PL whose playback attribute is “AutoPlay” isinstructed to be played directly after branching to a Title.

The application manager 36 performs processing according to procedureshown in FIG. 54, to respond to the described improvement in therecording medium.

FIG. 54 is a flowchart showing processing by the application manager 36relating to the present embodiment. This flowchart is the flowchart ofFIG. 38 with the addition of step S103 and step S104 before step S21,the addition of step S100 between step S21 and step S22, and theaddition of step S105 between step S23 and step S26.

At step S103, the application manager 36 judges whether or not theplayback attribute in the PlayList management table of the correspondingTitle is “AutoPlay”. If the playback attribute is “AutoPlay”, theapplication manager 36 has the playback control engine 32 start playbackcontrol with respect to the default PL (step S104).

At step S100, the application manager 36 judges whether or not playbackis being performed by presentation engine 31, and if playback is beingperformed by the presentation engine 31, moves to step S101.

Step S105 is a judgment step that is performed in the case of “YES” atstep S23 or “NO” at step S25, and is for showing whether or not theplayback attribute is “AutoPlay”. If the playback attribute is not“AutoPlay”, the application manager 36 notifies the module manager 34 ofthe end of the Title. If the playback attribute is “AutoPlay”, theapplication manager 36 moves to step S101 and continues the processing.

FIG. 55 illustrates how playback is performed with the playbackattribute being set to “AutoPlay” in the PlayList management table.Here, the Title that should be played is a non-AV Title that includes agame application in which falling tiles are stacked upon each other. Ifthe playback attribute is set to “AutoPlay” in the PlayList managementtable of this non-AV Title, the playback control engine 32 will startplayback of the default PL. Since execution of the game application andplayback of the default PL are performed in parallel, a composite imagein which the game application screen is in the foreground and theplayback image of the default image is in the background is displayed asshown in the upper row of the left side of FIG. 55. The game applicationis forcedly terminated by the application manager 36 but playback of thedefault PL continues, and therefore something of the Title is shown onthe screen. By specifying the playback attribute in the PlayListmanagement table in this way, operation can be maintained withouthang-ups or blackouts even if a game application in a non-AV Titleterminates abnormally.

Eighth Embodiment

In the first embodiment, BD-J objects have two tables: a data managementtable and an application management table. However, the presentembodiment discloses an embodiment in which these two tables areintegrated into one table. In view of this integration, the readattributes in the data management table are omitted, and instead a“Ready” attribute is provided as one of the run attributes, as shown inFIG. 56A. The “Ready” attribute is a type of run attribute thatindicates that an application it to be preloaded into the local memory29 in preparation for a call from another application or a call from theapplication manager 36.

FIG. 56B shows the relationship between run attributes and the treatmentof applications. Applications were treated in the first embodimentaccording to (1) whether or not the application is preloaded, (2)whether the application is run automatically when the current playbackposition reaches the effective cycle of the application or whether theapplication is run in response to a call from another application, (3)whether the application is loaded in accordance with the progression ofthe Title, and whether the application is living. The five states shownin FIG. 56B appear as a result of these differences. The run attributeis set to “AutoRun” when the application is to be preloaded andautomatically run, and when the application is to be loaded andautomatically run.

On the other hand, the run attribute is set to “Ready” when theapplication is to be preloaded or loaded, and the run field in the tableshows “call run”.

Note that there is no type showing that an application lives in the workmemory 37 but is not loaded to the local memory 29. This is because thelife cycle in the work memory 37 and the life cycle in the local memory29 are incorporated with each other in the application and datamanagement table.

Since a “Ready” attribute has been added to the types of run attributes,the application manager 36 performs processing to preload applicationsfor which the run attribute is set to “AutoRun” and applications forwhich the run attribute is set to “Ready” before playback of the Title.This makes it possible to perform processing to load applications to thelocal memory without providing read attributes.

FIG. 57 illustrates how the Java virtual machine 38 of the eighthembodiment reads applications. FIG. 57 is based on the reading shown inFIG. 51.

Arrows ⊚1 and ⊚2 indicate a read of a Java archive file that lives inthe application and data management table, and whose run attribute isset to “Ready”.

The arrows ⋆1, ⋆2, and ⋆3 indicate a read of an application that livesin the application and data management table, and whose run attribute is“Persistent”.

The arrows ⊚1 and ⊚2 and the arrows ⋆1, ⋆2, and ⋆3 are defined in FIG.51, but reads corresponding to the arrows ∇1 and ∇2 in FIG. 51 do notexist in FIG. 57. This is because the application management table andthe data management table have been integrated to form the applicationand data management table, and therefore the combination of anapplication living in the application management table and not living inthe data management table cannot be expressed.

As had been described, according to the present embodiment, the datamanagement table and the application management table are able to beintegrated into one table (the application and data management table),thus simplifying processing by the application manager 36. Note that theapplication and data management table may be further simplified byomitting the read priority levels therefrom.

Ninth Embodiment

In the first embodiment, applications were read into the local memory 29by referring to read priority levels and reading in accordance withthese read priority levels, thus giving an order of priority to thereads. In contrast, the ninth embodiment expresses read priority levelsaccording to a combination of information that signifies “Optional” andvalues from 0 to 255.

FIGS. 58A and 58B show an example of the read priority levels of theninth embodiment. The values 255 and 128 are examples of the readpriority levels from 0 to 255, and show that application #2 has a higherread priority level that application #3 in the present example.

The application manger 36 in the present embodiment reads applicationshaving a read priority level showing “Mandatory”, to the local memory 29first, as in the first embodiment.

The application manager 36 subsequently judges whether or not thecapacity of the local memory 29 exceeds the size of applications havinga read priority level showing “Optional”. If the capacity exceeds thesize of the applications, the application manager 36 read applicationshaving the read priority level showing “Optional” to the local memory29. If the capacity does not exceed the size, the application manager 36reads, from among the data constituting the applications, theapplication having a high value expressing the read priority level, tothe local memory 29. The application manager 36 subsequently reads anapplication having a low value expressing the read priority level, tothe remaining area in the local memory 29.

This enables some applications treated as “Optional” to be stored in thelocal memory 29 of the playback apparatus if the local memory 29 lackssufficient capacity to store all applications.

Tenth Embodiment

In the first embodiment, the application manager 36 loads one ofapplications having the same application ID exclusively to the localmemory 29 in accordance with the priority levels. However, the tenthembodiment realizes exclusive loading by assigning group attributes toapplications. FIGS. 59A and 59B show a data management table in whichgroup attributes are assigned. There are two possible settings of thegroup attribute: “exclusivity group existent” and “exclusivity groupnon-existent”. In the case of “exclusivity group existent”, the groupnumber of the group is defined in the data management table. In FIG.59A, “-” for Title#1 shows that an exclusivity group does not exist. Onthe other hand, “group#1” for Title#2 and Title#3 shows that anexclusivity group exists and that Title#2 and Title#3 belong to anexclusivity group called “group#1”. The above is an improvement relatingto a recording medium of the present embodiment.

The playback apparatus of the present embodiment first readsapplications to the local memory 29 based on the data management table,and then verifies the group attributes of the applications in the localmemory 29. If at least two applications belonging to the sameexclusivity group exist in the local memory 29, one of the applicationsis deleted from the local memory 29.

This improves the usage efficiency of the local memory 29. A specificexample of an exclusivity group is a group composed of a launcherapplication and an application that is run by the launcher application.Since the number of applications run by the launcher application is, inprinciple, limited to one, only the launcher application and one otherapplication should exist in the local memory. If three or moreapplications exist in the local memory 29, it is necessary for theapplication manager 36 to perform processing to delete the extraapplication or applications from the local memory 29. To this end, eachapplication is provided with a group attribute, and the applicationmanager 36 checks whether the applications that exist in the localmemory 29 are a launcher application and one other application.

FIG. 59A shows access to the local memory 29 based on the applicationmanagement table. In FIG. 59A, the group attribute of application#2 andapplication#3, which have read priority levels set to “Optional”, is“group#1”. This means that these applications belong to the sameexclusivity group. Of the three applications, application#1 is theaforementioned launcher application, and application#2 and application#3are applications that are run by the launcher application. Therefore,group attributes are assigned such that only one of application#2 andapplication#3 exist in the local memory 29. The application manager 36refers to the group attributes of application#2 and application#3 toperform processing to delete one of these two applications from thelocal memory 29. Deleing one of the applications generates space in thelocal memory 29.

Eleventh Embodiment

In the first embodiment an individual application management table isprovided for each Title. However, the present embodiment proposeschanging the unit of allocation of application management tables. FIG.60 shows variations of the unit of allocation of application managementtables. In FIG. 60, the first row shows three application managementtables recorded on a BD-ROM, the second row shows Title units, the thirdrow shows disc units, and the fourth row shows a disc set composed of aplurality of BD-ROMS. Arrows in FIG. 60 illustrate allocation of theapplication management tables. Referring to these arrows, it can be seenthat application management tables#1, #2 and #3 in the first row arerespectively assigned to Title#1, Title#2 and Title#3 in the second row.Furthermore, application management table#4 is assigned to a unit of adisc, and application management table#5 is assigned to the entire discset. Using units that are larger than Titles are the units of allocationof the application management tables enables applications that livewhile one BD-ROM is loaded in the playback apparatus to be defined, andapplications that live while one of a plurality of BD-ROMs is loaded inthe playback apparatus to be defined.

Remarks

The above description by no means shows the implementation of allconfigurations of the present invention. Implementation of the presentinvention is still possible according to implementation ofconfigurations that carry out the following modifications (A), (B), (C),(D), . . . . The inventions pertaining to the claims of the presentapplication range from expanded disclosure to generalized disclosure ofthe plurality of embodiments disclosed above and the modifiedconfigurations thereof. The degree of expansion or generalization isbased on the particular characteristics of technical standards in thetechnical field of the present invention at the time of the application.

(A) In all of the embodiments, an optical disk pertaining to the presentinvention is implemented as a BD-ROM. However, the optical disk of thepresent invention is characterized by the recorded dynamic scenarios andthe Index Table, and these characteristics are not dependent on thephysical properties of a BD-ROM. For example, optical disks such asDVD-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD+R, CD-R, CD-RW, and thelike, and optical-magnetic disks such as PD, MO and the like areapplicable. Semiconductor cards such as compact flash cards, PCM-CIAcards and the like are also applicable, as are (i) magnetic recordingdisks such as flexible disks, SuperDisk, Zip, Clik! and the like, and(ii) removable hard disk drives such as ORB, Jaz, SparQ, SyJet, EXFley,microdrive and the like. Furthermore, the recording medium may also be abuilt-in hard disk.

(B) Although the playback apparatuses in all of the embodiments outputAVClips recorded on a BD-ROM to a TV after decoding, the playbackapparatus may be structured from only a BD-ROM drive, and the TV may beequipped with all of the other elements. In this case, the playbackapparatus and the TV can be incorporated into a home network connectedusing IEEE1394. Also, although the playback apparatuses in theembodiments are of a type used after connecting to a television,integral display-playback apparatuses are also applicable. Furthermore,the playback apparatus may be only those part of the playbackapparatuses of the embodiment that perform essential parts of theprocessing. Because these playback apparatuses are all inventionsdisclosed in the specification of the present application, actsinvolving the manufacture of playback apparatuses based on an internalstructure of the playback apparatuses shown in the first to thirdembodiments are implementations of the inventions disclosed in thespecification of the present application. Acts that involve transferring(retail when cost is involved; a gift when no cost is involved),lending, or importing of playback apparatuses shown in the first tothird embodiments are also implementations of the present invention.Acts that involve approaching the general user about transfer, rental orthe like by means of show-window displays, catalogue solicitation,pamphlet distribution and the like are also implementations of theseplayback apparatuses.

(C) Because of the information processing by a computer program shown ineach of the flowcharts being realized specifically using hardwareresources, a computer program showing the processing procedures in theflowchart forms an invention in its own right. Although all of theembodiments show embodiments that relate to the implementation ofcomputer programs pertaining to the present invention in an inincorporated form in the playback apparatuses, the computer programsshown in the first to third embodiments may be implemented in their ownright, separate from the playback apparatuses. The implementation of thecomputer programs in their own right includes acts that involve: (1)production of the programs, (2) transference of the programs, eithergratuitous or otherwise, (3) lending of the programs, (4) importing ofthe programs, (5) providing the programs publicly via bi-directionalelectronic communications circuits, and (6) approaching the general userabout transfer, rental and the like by means of show-window displays,catalogue solicitation, pamphlet distribution, and so forth.

(D) Consider that the element of “time” relating to the steps executedin time-series in each of the flowcharts is a required item forspecifying the invention. If this is the case, then the processingprocedures shown by the flowchart can be understood as disclosing theusage configurations of the playback method. Execution of the processingin the flowcharts so as to achieve the original objects of the presentinvention and to enact the actions and effects by performing theprocessing of the steps in time-series is, needless to say, animplementation of the recording method pertaining to the presentinvention.

(E) A Menu(ChapterMenu) for displaying a list of Chapters, and a MOVIEobject for controlling the behavior of this may be recorded on theBD-ROM, such that this Menu(ChapterMenu) can be branched to from the topmenu. Furthermore, this Menu(ChapterMenu) may be called according to apress of a Chapter key among the keys of the remote controller.

(F) When recording on a BD-ROM, extension headers preferably areappended to TS packets structuring AVClips. These extension headers,which are called TP_extra_header, include an “Arrival_Time_Stamp” and a“copy_permission_indicator” and have a 4-bit type data length.TP_extra_header-attached TS packets (hereinafter, abbreviated to“EX-attached TS packet”) are arranged into groups of 32 packets, andwritten into three sector. Each group comprising 32 EX-attached TSpackets is 6,144 bytes in length (=32*192), and matches the 6,144-bytesize of three sectors (=2048*3). The grouping of 32 EX-attached TSpackets contained in three sectors is referred to as an “Aligned Unit”.

A playback apparatus 200 transmits Aligned Units in transmissionprocessing as described below, when used in a home network connect viaIEEE1394. That is, a device on the side of the sender removes theTP_extra_header from each of the 32 EX-attached TS packets included inan Aligned Unit, and outputs the TS packets after encoding the TS packetbody based on a DTCP standard. When outputting TS packets, isochronouspackets are inserted between all adjacent TS packets. The positioning ofisochronous packets is based on times shown in the Arrival_Time_Stamp ineach TP_extra_header. The playback apparatus 200 outputs aDTCP_Descriptor following the outputting of the TS packets. TheDTCP_Descriptor shows a copy permissibility setting in eachTP_extra_header. Here, if the DTCP_Descriptor is described so as to show“copy prohibited”, TS packets will not be recorded on other devices whenused in a home network connected via IEEE1394.

(G) Although digital streams recorded on a recording medium in theembodiments are AVClips, the digital streams may be VOBs (Video Objects)complying with a DVD-Video standard or a DVD-Video Recording standard.VOBs are program streams compliant with ISO/IEC13818-1 obtained bymultiplexing video and audio streams. Also, video streams in AVClips maybe MPEG-4 format, WMV format, or the like. Furthermore, audio streamsmay be a Linear-PCM format, Dolby-AC3 format, MP3 format, or MPEG-AACformat.

(H) The video works in each embodiment may be obtained by encoding ananalog video signal broadcast according to analog broadcasting, or maybe stream data constituted from a transport stream broadcast accordingto digital broadcasting.

Furthermore, content may be obtained by encoding an analog/digital videosignal recorded on a video tape. Moreover, content may be obtained byencoding an analog/digital video signal imported directly from a videocamera. Alternatively, the content may be a digital work distributed bya distribution server.

(I) The BD-J module 35 may be a Java platform installed in a device inorder to receive satellite broadcasts. If the BD-J module 35 is thisJava platform, a playback apparatus according to the present inventionshares processing as MHP-use STBs.

Furthermore, the BD-J module 35 may be a Java platform installed in adevice in order to perform mobile telephone processing controls. If theBD-J module 35 is this Java platform, a playback apparatus according tothe present invention shares processing as a mobile telephone.

(K) In the layer model, the HDMV mode may be positioned on the BD-Jmode. This is because especially the analysis of the dynamic scenario inthe HDMV mode and the execution of the control procedure based on thedynamic scenario put light load on the playback apparatus, and there isno problem in executing the HDMV mode on the BD-J mode. Also, in thedevelopment process of the playback apparatus or a movie work, theoperations can be guaranteed by only one mode.

Further, the playback process may be executed only in the BD-J mode.This is because as shown in Embodiment 5, a playback control can beperformed in synchronization with a playback of a PL in the BD-J mode,and therefore the HDMV mode may not necessarily be provided.

(L) A navigation command may be provided for a interactive graphicsstream that is to be multiplexed on an AVCLip, in order to realizebranching from one PL to another PL.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The playback apparatus of the present invention may be used personallyas in a home theater system. However, the playback apparatus of thepresent invention may also be used industrially since the internalstructure thereof is disclosed in the embodiments described above, andit is apparent that the playback apparatus of the present invention willbe mass-produced. For this reason, the playback apparatus of the presentinvention has industrial applicability.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readablerecording medium storing thereon an index table and a plurality ofoperation mode objects, wherein the index table is a file that shows aplurality of titles in correspondence with the plurality of operationmode objects, at least one of the operation modes being a firstoperation mode object that is for use in a movie mode, and at leastanother one of the operation mode objects being a second operation modeobject that is for use in a virtual machine, the first operation modeobject is stored in a file, includes a navigation command that shows acontrol procedure, and is loaded by a playback apparatus when theplayback apparatus is in a first operation mode, the second operationmode object is stored in a file, includes cache management information,is loaded by the playback apparatus when the playback apparatus is in asecond operation mode, and defines run control of an application inaccordance with a selection of a current title corresponding to thesecond operation mode object, the run control being a control of readinga class file included in a Java archive file composing an applicationhaving a life cycle corresponding to the current title onto a heapmemory of the virtual machine from a cache when the Java archive filecomposing the application has been preloaded to the cache, and the cachemanagement information shows, of Java archive files that composeapplications, which Java archive file is to be read to the cache, beforeaudio-visual playback of the current title following the selection ofthe current title.
 2. A playback apparatus that performs playback of atitle recorded on a recording medium, and execution of an application,the playback apparatus comprising: a module manager operable to select,based on an index table, a title to become a current title from among aplurality of titles; a module operable to execute the application; and aplayback unit operable to execute audio-visual playback in accordancewith the current title, wherein the recording medium stores thereon anindex table, and a plurality of operation mode objects, the index tableshows a plurality of titles in correspondence with the plurality ofoperation mode objects, at least one of the operation modes being afirst operation mode object that is for use in a movie mode, and atleast another one of the operation mode objects being a second operationmode object that is for use in a virtual machine, the first operationmode object is stored in a file and includes a navigation command thatshows a control procedure, the second operation mode object is stored ina file, includes cache management information, is loaded by the playbackapparatus when the playback apparatus is in a second operation mode, anddefines run control of an application in accordance with a selection ofa current title corresponding to the second operation mode object, therun control being a control of reading a class file included in a Javaarchive file composing an application having a life cycle correspondingto the current title onto a heap memory of the virtual machine from acache when the Java archive file composing the application has beenpreloaded to the cache, the cache management information shows, of Javaarchive files that compose applications, which Java archive file is tobe read to the cache, before audio-visual playback of the current titlefollowing the selection of the current title, the module, when aselection of the current title is made, reads to the cache the Javaarchive file shown in the cache management information corresponding tothe current title, before audio-visual playback of the current titlecommences, and the module and the module manager are each configuredfrom hardware including a processor and a memory, and a program storedin the memory.
 3. A playback method that performs playback of a titlerecorded on a recording medium, and execution of an application, theplayback method comprising: a manager step of selecting, based on anindex table, a title to become a current title from among a plurality oftitles; a module step of executing the application; and a playback stepof executing audio-visual playback in accordance with the current title,wherein the recording medium stores thereon an index table and aplurality of operation mode objects, the index table shows a pluralityof titles in correspondence with the plurality of operation modeobjects, at least one of the operation modes being a first operationmode object that is for use in a movie mode, and at least another one ofthe operation mode objects being a second operation mode object that isfor use in a virtual machine, the first operation mode object is storedin a file and includes a navigation command that shows a controlprocedure, the second operation mode object is stored in a file,includes cache management information, is loaded by the playbackapparatus when the playback apparatus is in a second operation mode, anddefines run control of an application in accordance with a selection ofa current title corresponding to the second operation mode object, therun control being a control of reading a class file included in a Javaarchive file composing an application having a life cycle correspondingto the current title onto a heap memory of the virtual machine from acache when the Java archive file composing the application has beenpreloaded to the cache, the cache management information shows, of Javaarchive files that compose applications, which Java archive file is tobe read to the cache, before audio-visual playback of the current titlefollowing the selection of the current title, the module step, when aselection of the current title is made, reads to the cache the Javaarchive file shown in the cache management information corresponding tothe current title, before audio-visual playback of the current titlecommences.